The Magical Swordsman
by Iamwhononofyouare
Summary: Momonga was not the only one who was transported, nor did everyone come with a host of supporting NPCs. This is the story of a loner and his interactions in this New World.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, so here's my attempt at an Overlord FF, please don't hate me for trying. Now, my previous work was a self-insert, but I'm going to try hard to keep the self-insertiness out. Unless you guys want it. Then I might go first-person.**

 **I can't remember anything else I wanted to say, so here's chapter one, enjoy.**

 **X**  
In the year 2126 a revolutionary game was released, a Full Dive Virtual Reality MMORPG, Yggdrasil. This game utterly demolished traditional PC games, and sent developers across the globe into a scramble as they sought to make their own FDVRs.

As gamers scraped together their money to pay the subscription fees, employment participation went up, causing wages and work hours to decrease marginally.

For the common school boy though, playing this masterpiece was only a dream, a dream that took years for Hatori Takashi to realize.

Eight years after the game's initial release, his older brother was already a legendary player, fully equipped in Divine-class or higher, and ready to retire.

"Takashi, I bequeath unto you this day my most valuable possession: The Infinity Sword." Hatori Natsume, or rather, Incursio, dramatically handed over an iron sword to Takashi, that is, his game character, Zauberklinge. It was a tasteless name that encompassed his lack of naming sense, or so his brother said.

"Infinity sword? Isn't this just a piece of junk?" Zauberklinge wondered as he looked at the stats. Indeed, the weapon barely fit the description, its dull sheen and almost-nonexistent blade hardly looking the part. Its only redeeming feature was the 'World Class Item' in the top right of the data screen.

"Now, now, I've been saving this thing up just for you and you say something so hurtful. Come here, I'll tell you its secret."

Zauberklinge leaned forward, listening as his brother told him the weapon's secret.

"This thing is awesome!"

XX

"Stupid five levels lost on death, that's just retarded, no game in the history of games has ever had such harsh parameters." While untrue, such sentiments were a common sight not only on online message boards, but also in the mind of Zauberklinge.

After dying twice in a raid against a famous PK guild, Zauberklinge was level back up to level 92, and farming level 95 field giants, along with their huge and often monstrous pets, to get back to level 100.

"There's no way I'm not going to be a hundred when the server shuts down. **Double Maximize Magic: Fire Hail!** " Balls of fire surrounded Zauberklinge's opponent, exploding in a brilliant display as they impacted against its tough skin.

" **Lightning Split!"** Zauberklinge jumped high into the air, launching an overhead elemental finishing strike with his greatsword.

"One more down." With that, the giant, measuring around fifteen meters in height, fell down in two parts, it having been cut in half from head to groin.

Zauberklinge's pitch black hair swayed in the breeze in a pre-ordained pattern, after-all, it was just a game, and the animations couldn't be wholly realistic. Although newer titles did boast better graphics, Zauberklinge enjoyed Yggdrasil's intense player freedom. With so many races it was almost impossible to choose, so many spells - with such animations that it had caused graphics designers to spit blood- and a huge range of classes, along with an enormous free-range world, Yggdrasil was a masterpiece.

"So why are they shutting it down? **Dragon Lightning!** " The answer was of course, money. While a few still played, keeping servers online wasn't free, especially in 2138. Therefore, the game was scheduled to be shut down in a week, with such obvious lines as 'It's been fun over these twelve years' and 'We hope to see in our next game' and 'This journey is over, but the next is about to begin'.

This nonsense didn't mean anything to Takashi, who just wanted to keep playing this game he loved. Alas, one man could not change fate, and railing on online forums wouldn't pay the bills, so, reluctantly, he moved his character to a safe zone and headed to work.

XX

With eight hours to go until the server shut down and being only level 97, the chances were slim for Zauberklinge to reach 100. He was soloing, and levels didn't come for free, after-all.

Fortunately, he hadn't joined a guild, so teary goodbyes or disappointing 'I can't come's were impossible. Takashi'd just drink a glass with Natsume after it was over and leech off the next incarnation of Incursio.

Zauberklinge was currently in a forest, a high level hunting ground, full of magical monkeys and other such craziness. Or, at least, craziness to his mother. To Takashi, magical monkeys who hopped around and shot tier 9 magic were better than sliced bread; they were XP.

"Come to papa. **Haste!** **Demonic Regeneration! Elemental Blade: Fire!"** With augmenting spells such as these, Zauberklinge mowed down the opposition with his [Sword of Infinity] and highly-honed sword techniques. While Yggdrasil was a game, it was a FDVR, which meant that certain real-life truths applied. Instead of hitting the attack button, players moved their weapons, so attack speed wasn't based on weapon stats, but on personal skill.

Knowing this, Takashi had diligently trained every day to be at least an average swordsman, joining clubs, watching videos, and working around the neighborhood to gather up enough cash for a lesson here and there.

It was enough to make his older brother say, "If he worked this hard at stuff that mattered, he'd already be through college."

That said, his talent fell short of his diligence, and Takashi was certainly not national championship material. Or perhaps it was because the reason he worked so hard was to eventually fight dragons that his anti-personnel techniques fell somewhat short.

In any case, the monkeys certainly were in no position to belittle his efforts, most of them not even being in one piece.

Zauberklinge wiggled his tiny little tail in delight, almost yelling in his victory, all for the change in one digit. Indeed, the five foot nine devil was now level 98.

"Onward!" Zauberklinge checked the time and winced, there were only three hours left for this world.

 _Did I really spend that much time grinding? Time flies when the server is about to shut-down._

" **Haste! Summon Mount: Ghast Horse."** A half-rotted horse appeared; which Zauberklinge speedily mounted, riding for half a minute in the forest until he reached the middle of the next monkey spawn point.

" **Triple Maximize Magic: Darkening Blast."** A forceful wave of dark energy exploded from Zauberklinge's sword as he swung it horizontally, successfully causing fear and considerable damage to his hairy enemy.

Zauberklinge checked his mana, and began swinging his sword blandly, dodging dodgeable spells as they hurled towards him.

"As if my MDef would lose to monkey magic," Another monkey bloodlessly lost its head, after-all, this was a game, they couldn't show gore properly if they wanted to attract a wide range of people. As an aside, there were quite a few gory VRMMO's these days.

Zauberklinge continued grinding until there was only one minute left, having failed to even reach level 99.

"…I could have done it if I devoted a little bit more time to Yggdrasil. Aish, I guess I'll stay until the time runs out, just so I can say I did."

33

"It was fun you know, playing this old game."

21

"Who am I even talking to? Monkey Corpses?" He laughed a fake laugh, bitter in spirit that his most beloved game was ending.

9

"I just wish I could have crushed those guys at least once. Stupid PKers giving heteromorphics a bad name."

1

 _I guess this is it, so long Yggdrasil, Zauberklinge_ …. _On second thought, shouldn't that have taken more than a second to think?_

He checked the game clock, or at least, he tried to. Only, it wasn't there, there was no clock.

Takashi looked around, his eyebrows contorting at what he saw, "Wasn't I in a forest?"

"Grr…" It seemed he wasn't, and it also seemed he had company, in the form of a zombie.

Takashi checked his hand, noting the presence of his [Sword of Infinity] glowing seemingly more realistically than in the game.

"On that note, didn't I raise an eyebrow earlier?" That level of detail wasn't possible in Yggdrasil, so he raised an eyebrow and checked his reflection in the sword.

"Only mirror items should reflect like a proper mirror…" He quickly mentally ran through the specifications of his weapon, "Nope, I didn't put a mirror function in."

" **Call GM."** Nothing, no response, nada. Which was crazy, the chances of 0 GMs being online in a FDVRMMO were 0.

He almost used message, but remembered that Natsume had probably logged out long before the final countdown anyway.

" **Inventory."** Takashi was greeted with a strange sensation as he put his hand into a portal to nowhere. Zauberklinge called the item to mind, a senbon, and strangely enough, it appeared in his hand.

"That wasn't weird at all. Now for the test." His weapon to his left hand, and keeping an eye on his HP bar, he stuck himself with the senbon. He'd lost one hitpoint.

 _Seems about right, senbon always do at least one damage._

Now to see if zombies were intelligent, unlike in the game, "Yo Zombie-san, are you feeling okay?"

"Grrr.."

 _Rude son-of-dog, you'll regret that insolence._

Before Takashi even realized what he was doing, the zombie didn't even exist anymore, and a crater had formed where the undead had been standing.

"Ok~." He glanced to his sides briefly, insuring he was alone, "At least it was only a zombie." He whistled innocently, and looked in every direction. Forest in the north, flat plains in the west, east, and south.

 _How promising_.

" **Flight."** Stowing his greatsword on his back, Zauberklinge soared into the air. He looked beyond the forest to his north, spotting mountains. _Civilization is what we want, not barren peaks_ , to the west there appeared to be a fortress, it looked medieval to Takashi's eyes, and beyond a speck of something between him and the forest it was the most inviting thing around.

 _Assuming this is reality, will wearing Legendary+ items and requesting entry be hard?_ NPC guards in Yggdrasil certainly didn't care how you dressed, but if you walked up to Tokugawa's castle with shiny armor, a really big sword, and gems on all over the place, it would cause a stir.

Zauberklinge settled for switching into a set of leather armor that was purposely designed to look like a common shop item. It was, after-all, just another set of that same common shop set. Incidentally, the pieces were all level ten equips.

Instead of putting away his treasured sword, he merely wrapped up the hilt and scabbard, so as to hide their true nature. And so it was with this massive object of somewhat indiscriminate shape - though to the trained eye clearly a sword - covered in white cloth that he crossed into the fortress-city of E-rantel.

Zauberklinge was not a large or particularly muscular-looking fellow, so the appearance of him walking around with such a huge object on his back was shocking.

Such comments as, "Wooden" "Hollow" and "Probably fake" were heard as he passed through the streets.

 _Everyone seems to be minding their own business to a reasonable extent. It's definitely too realistic to be a game, so I guess this is reality._

Troubling himself over the science of why he was in Zauberklinge in a totally foreign world would get him nowhere, so he instead set about finding food.

 _Using Yggdrasil currency is out of the question, I'd rather not set off questionnaires and inquisitions._

Thus, he needed to find work. Or sell off some of the stuff he'd looted from the monkeys, but again, from the looks of things, common folk weren't murdering level 90+ monsters.

Although Takashi hated looking like an idiot, he asked a teenage urchin where he figured a guy like him would find work. It didn't take much threatening to get the info, so Zauberklinge presently headed to the Adventurer's Guild.

 _Adventurer's Guild, with such a corny name, it's a wonder this isn't a novel from the 21_ _st_ _century._

Then again, from the looks of things, it wasn't so different from such a novel.

 _But something like I'm the only one from the Old World here is ridiculous, if we assume the moment of transportation was when the server shut down, it's likely that quite a number of enthusiasts came. The trouble is: Did everyone get transported to the same time? What if some got put in this world eons ago, and some more will come next year? And what about place, did some unlucky fellows get transported to underground?_

In the end, Zauberklinge put such worries behind him in favor of survival, that coming in the form of his next meal.

The Guild building in E-rantel was a noisy place, and the appearance of a dark-haired individual with unassuming leather armor did little to quiet it. After all, while black hair was rare, Adventurers came from all over, and many died their hair anyway.

Zauberklinge's eyebrows stretched for the third time that day as he took note of the gear and appearance of these so-called Adventurers. They looked small and weak to him, and his instincts were demanding their submission.

 _Even the gold-plates look no higher than level 10, is this world truly so weak?_ Takashi correctly assumed that since everyone in the guild had a metal plate around their neck, and no-one outside did, it must be some sort of rank indicator.

"I want to register. I assume there's no way to raise my initial rank through some sort of test?" Zauberklinge's loud proclamation did quiet the room for a second, before laughter erupted.

"You've got to earn your rank boy!"

"Hahaha, you serious?"

"If there were a test every Tom, Dick, and Harry would be taking it right now!"

Zauberklinge smiled as he turned around, "It doesn't hurt to ask, right? Since I could beat any one of you anyway." A reputation as an arrogant, but capable, youngster was better than being unknown.

The cooler and weaker heads didn't care to take Zauberklinge up on that, but a silver-plated man with a full beard was less forgiving.

"I think it's better I teach you a lesson before you end up killed!" He kicked over his table as he tipped his chair backwards, somersaulting backwards before standing.

"Good. I'll teach you to show me some face." Zauberklinge spouted such a line at his opponent, hoping to rile him up further.

The silver-plate narrowed his eyes and did a double step forward, throwing a punch at Zauberklinge's guts. It never landed, Zauberklinge's own hand intercepting it with a small gap between itself and Zauberklinge's stomach. The surroundings grew quiet as everyone silenced their breathing.

"So you have a little skill." The man's beard widened out as his face stretched into a grin.

"I do." He smirked back as their legs dueled, feinting and stomping with ever increasing fury. The match finally ended when Zauberklinge kneed the silver-plate in the groin, finishing with a punch to his face.

"Anyone else?" Zauberklinge looked around the room fiercely, daring the next fool to challenge him. No one responded, and silence reigned for a few seconds.

"You said you wanted to register, sir?" The receptionist rained down on his little parade like a spring thunderstorm.

"Ah, right, I'm Zaug, I'm young, and I use some magic along with my greatsword." The reason he gave a fake name was painfully simple, a name like Zauberklinge was too long and strange for real life. Although, it wasn't as if Zaug was a common name on earth.

"So… you're a magical swordsman?" The receptionist betrayed surprise, and well she should, a jack-of-all-trades kind of job like magical swordsman was not only rare, but stupid. Casting magic while on the front-lines was impossible, and swords didn't have amplifying effects like staves. Not only that, but much effort was required to learn a spell, and also to learn the sword, resulting in half-baked skills in both. Of course, anyone who could pull it off was worthy of respect.

Zaug brightened, "Precisely. I like to think I'm quite good, but that will obviously have to be proven in the field."

"He's more swordsman than magical, I think." The beaten man spoke, "You'll live against goblins at least."

In actuality, Takashi had maxed [Archmagical Swordsman] before [Magical Swordmaster] and liked his magic more, thus, he was technically more magical than swordsman. But, showing off his true abilities while uncertain of his surroundings wasn't Zauberklinge's style.

"Can you read and write?" The woman at the counter asked, again taking back the conversation.

"Unfortunately, no," That surprised her again, either Zaug wasn't much of a magician, or he was a strange fellow who learned nothing from the written word.

"I'll fill it out for you then. Zaug, you said?"

Zauberklinge nodded in assent, "I'll pay if it's necessary, but after I complete my first mission, as I currently have none."

Her brow rose, a swordsman who could best a silver-plate in a fist fight, who claimed to use magic well, though probably only a few tier one spells, and who had no money. In addition, he had a strange hair color, an all-around bizarre man.

"Here's your plate, rankings go Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mythril, Orichalcum, Adamantite."

Zaug received his plate with a slight frown, before he turned back to the receptionist, "So, copper-ranked requests. Or any other request you feel I can handle, because I feel I can handle plenty."

She slapped a mission paper in front of him, causing him to give her a questioning look.

"So, what's this?"

"Goblin extermination. Their numbers are rising, so the Guild has accepted a commission to kill 140 of them. Proof of completion is a right ear, left ears will not be accepted, if you bring back more than fifty ears, your pay will be cut in half, if you exceed the request, you will only receive rewards for the number needed to finish the request."

 _Simple, understandable, and more importantly…_ "How suitable for a brute like me. I was worried you'd send me off to pluck herbs."

The woman smiled thinly at Zaug, "You'll be likely to find goblins to the north and slightly west, the Virtuous King of the Forest used to keep them away, but some adventurer in dark plate armor tamed it."

 _With a name like Virtuous King of the Forest it wouldn't be a wonder for this creature to be a marvelously powerful beast; I shall have to search this out… subtly._

Zaug however, didn't possess a convenient cloning ability or the like, and remote viewing magic was risky. While the average level was low here; in Yggdrasil it was common to have scrying alarms and countermeasures. And so far things seemed similar enough to Zauberklinge, sure, the political situation was changed, and the levels were low, but otherwise not much was different.

But again, Zauberklinge chose to put these matters aside in favor of earning money.

X

"So weak…" To a level 98 character like Zauberklinge, it was no wonder goblins seemed impossibly weak, and with a strong melee job like swordsman (he had to max this to learn [Magic Swordsman]) even if he used a twig he would still be able to split them in half.

"Should I just summon some Imps and cause an incident for me to deal with? I might at least get a gold plate." But in the end, Takashi decided against it. After-all, if civilians got killed he wouldn't be able to live properly. Regret is a powerful thing.

 _Even though they're just ants, I was once among their number._

Was he though? Sure, he'd been a part of the human race back on earth, but this and that were two different places, and real humans couldn't use magic. The game even described them as a different species.

 _But that's a wrong way of thinking, the question of their humanity isn't the issue, it's their sentience. But on that note, I've already slaughtered semi-intelligent life forms in the form of goblins._

Then to Zauberklinge, the question to ask was this: Did these humans deserve better treatment than the goblins? Well, as minions, humans were preferable, and goblins weren't paying for human extermination, thus, it only made sense to be on the human side of things.

 _The fact remains though, coexistence is impossible, it is not the natural order for a greater being to serve a lesser, and that natural instinct will gradually persuade future me to take violent supremacist action. Thus, it would make sense for me to separate myself from this country, and carve out my own kingdom at the edge of the world._

But to Takashi, leaving these people in their medieval lives and running away sounded wrong. If he could decrease the poverty rate here, if he could increase average living conditions, then shouldn't he? The moral issues of higher power and higher knowledge were confusing to him.

It was something that couldn't be put off forever, since both his remaining human emotions and his demon instincts demanded an answer.

XX

As a Guild worker who regularly encountered adventurers, Alicia was used to strange individuals, but too many had been popping up lately. First it was a fresh adventurer who never showed his face with a cool dark beauty. And then it was a magic swordsman, also with black hair. She couldn't help but wonder if they were related somehow, especially since both the males in question had huge swords.

To further increase her consternation, the newest anomaly, clad as he was in leather armor of good make, was already back.

 _He probably couldn't find any and got bored. Maybe he's some noble's son with a bit of talent who ran away from his daddy like a little brat._ Such were the imaginings of the receptionist, who by no means expected the truth.

"I brought forty-nine, count them if you like." The adventurer, Zaug, smiled at her.

Had he had help? Did he have lackeys to bolster his fame? If he was indeed a noble, it wouldn't be strange. But Alicia was sure she would have heard of a handsome black-haired noble with at least a little skill in the sword. Nevertheless, it surely wasn't impossible she hadn't.

"Let's see…" She slowly confirmed 49 right goblin ears, and then proceeded to add up the amount.

Zaug sighed in exasperation, "How much per?"

"2 copper."

"Then 98 copper, its simple math." To a Japanese male, or a person living in any civilized country, this was a fact. However, it was perhaps to be expected that "simple" multiplication was less than well-known in an area resembling medieval Europe.

She ignored him however, opting not to trust the word of man who stood to gain much by lying. And so the slow counting went on for a full minute, until Alicia was finally satisfied.

"98 copper indeed, you're quite good at arithmetic to not require a calculation tool for multiplication."

In the Re-Estize kingdom especially, being able to do math with numbers larger than the number of fingers a human possessed at a time was considered difficult. This was because even basic education was a privilege, and not a right, as most developed countries believed it to be.

But when asked whether reading or mental multiplication was rarer, the answer would almost invariably be multiplication. In addition, when speaking of mental multiplication skill without being able to read, the numbers would be very low indeed. Had 98 been a lucky guess? It seemed extremely unlikely, at least to Alicia.

Zauberklinge however, found Alicia's lack of trust disturbing; for the simple reason that the utter lack of mathematical ability scared him. And a Guild receptionist at that! As the only employee in the building, other than a few waitresses, it would not be a gross overstatement to say she was middle management. Granted, higher ranking executives were a hop, skip, and a jump away, but she could hardly bother them over a few copper.

It was what we might call culture shock; in this case, it was more specifically education shock. But let's take a step back and look at the issue.

If you met an employed clerk who couldn't do 49x2, would you ask that they be replaced? Would you gossip to your friends? Would you rail against whoever you thought was responsible? Indeed, today such things as mental calculations are expected, but not so in E-rantel.

And so these conflicting worldviews caused both Zaug's and Alicia's minds to spin on, until finally an alarm bell rang.

"All mythril-rank or above adventurers are to report to the Guild leader's quarters immediately!" A magically projected voice called out within the confines of the guild building, and runners went out to where the two mythril-ranked teams in town were known to stay.

 _Some sort of emergency, obviously, should I risk a bit of eavesdropping?_ While far below the level of professional stealth classes like ninja and phantom, magic swordsmen still had a few lower level concealment magics that would certainly last long enough for this meeting.

 _Which means the question is: how likely is it for mythril adventurers to have stealth detection?_ From what he'd seen so far, gold-plates had no chance of detecting his spell, but mythril was two ranks above that.

 _Probably no, the maximum I can see a mythril-plate being is level 20, and even detection-oriented characters wouldn't have a shot._ Which left items. While Zaug hadn't seen any so far, detection items might be commonplace for all he knew.

Zaug quickly concluded that if he never took any risks, he would never see any results. Thus, the newly-minted adventurer pocketed his money, bid farewell to the clerk, and left the building.

" **Greater Invisibility."** With this whisper in a back alley, Zaug turned invisible to his surroundings, though he could see his own outline.

XX

"Come, come, come, Momon-san, please find an empty seat."

There were six men in the room, three of whom were fully armed and ferocious-looking men. Another man, though also mighty and majestic but unarmed, stood up and welcomed Momon. There was another thin and neurotic-looking man wearing a robe. The last was an obese man in the innermost corner of the room.

After Momon sat down with everyone's gaze upon him, the man standing up immediately opened his mouth again.

"Let me introduce myself then. I am the leader of this city's Adventurers' Guild, Burdon Issac."

This middle-aged man looked quite capable and vigorous.

Exuding the atmosphere of a veteran of a hundred battles, there should be nobody who would question him being an outstanding warrior.

"This is the mayor, Panasolei Gierge Di Leitenmaya-san."

After the dark-plated adventurer slightly nodded, Panasolei lightly waved his hand in response. Panasolei was an extremely fat man, and whatever features his face might otherwise have possessed, the immense quantities of blubber covered them.

 _So the Virtuous King of the Forest was tamed by this man? Or whatever he really is under that armor._

" **Scan."**

[Momonga] - Level 100. At least that's what the screen in front of him said. A player? He turned back to the screen.

Guild: Ainz Ooal Gown

Most definitely a player, and one of those guys too! To Zauberklinge, Ainz Ooal Gown was not only an enemy, but also a diabolical guild that made players hate heteromorphic races. They were a bunch of idiots who fought racism with racism. It was a group that escalated conflicts and attacked the weak.

Whatever further thoughts Zaug might other have explored; they were cut short as Momonga cut at him with one of his swords.

But a physical strike fueled by the strength of a necromancer would never damage a level 98 magic swordsman like himself. Unfortunately for Zaug, being attacked did break his [Greater Invisibility].

Immediately, he drew his [Infinity Sword] and retreated a couple steps, "It seems we both had the same idea, only you arrived a little earlier. Why don't you take off that helmet and show your true face, Momonga?"

"Who are you?" A deep voice emanated sternly from within the metal plate.

"A humble player, like yourself. You probably shouldn't have decided to be a warrior-type adventurer; I have the distinct advantage now. So give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you." Truthfully, Zauberklinge had no desire to take hostile action against Momonga, but by inflating his own strength, he might gain something in negotiations. He also recognized the possibility that more than just Momonga had come to this new world, and thus was seriously considering ending Momonga to reduce the threat. Obviously, he also recognized that revenge was a powerful motivator, and thus the threat could actually increase.

"What is this?" Issac demanded angrily, "How dare you infiltrate this meeting!"

He was ignored. As Momonga's salary-man brain struggled to figure out something to say, and Zaug cursed his own stupidity, there was no room for a third man. What stupidity was Zaug cursing you ask? He was still wearing his leather armor.

Igavaruji glared at both of them, "Some unknown adventurer, apparently with two names, and now some less-known adventurer challenging him to a fight. Kick them both out."

"T-that's…" The mayor weakly interjected, to no avail.

Issac quickly recovered himself after his initial burst, "That won't be necessary, Igavaruji-san. Momon-san was invited, and there is no reason for him to leave. You, however," He took on a strong tone as he looked straight at Zaug, "Were not. Leave now; and you might escape with just a suspension."

Zauberklinge laughed loudly, "If I ever feel threatened by any of you, I'll let you know."

"Should you refuse to comply, don't blame me if I ask these good fellows to level their swords at you."

"If _all_ of you pointed _swords_ at me, I still wouldn't mind."

At that moment, Zaug felt something brushing against him, stealing information from him, he felt it. He looked to where he _knew_ the source was, and found himself staring at that annoying dark helmet.

"Come now Zauberklinge, you shouldn't take such a hostile stance towards these good fellows. We'll talk later, but for now, can't you see I'm in the middle of a meeting?"

"A meeting I was spying on, and I'm sure 'these good fellows' don't take kindly to that."

"Indeed we do not; however, you did not hear anything beyond introductions before we were interrupted." Issac added in.

Zauberklinge felt anger welling up inside, anger that these _humans_ dared to treat him like some insignificant thing. But he forced this anger down with a greater one, anger felt over the fact that he was angry.

"I suppose I ought to bow and scape and beg forgiveness, but the only one here I'll apologize to is Momonga. Sorry for scanning you, it was rude of me. And never mind the life threat; that was just bravado." Zaug's eyes scanned the room, **"Teleport."**

With that, Zauberklinge disappeared from the room, leaving its occupants stunned.

"I demand to know just what that was all about." Igavaruji spoke first, releasing a bit of anger with his scathing tone.

"Just now, that fellow you called Zauberklinge, he clearly said teleport, right?" Ignoring such proceedings as introductions, the Magician Guild's head of E-rantel, Theo Rakesheer, asked such a question excitedly.

In the Re-Estize kingdom, no, across the whole world, the number of users of the spell [Teleport] was not in excess of two thousand. And that was a very generous number that assumed quite a few undocumented third-tier magic casters.

"Fuee- yes, I heard it quite clearly, the last thing that man said was 'Teleport'." Panasolei agreed.

"For someone of that caliber to go so far as to eavesdrop, this vampire must be quite the calamity." A third man spoke up, a mythril plate around his neck, skillfully bringing the meeting back on track.

"Ah yes, I'm forgetting my manners. Momon-san, this is Theo Rakesheer, E-rantel's Magician Guild leader." Issac took back his position as head of the conversation swiftly.

Theo nodded to him.

"Like you, these three men were invited to join us. They are all representatives from three of E-rantel's adventurer teams that we take pride in. From the right to the left is Kuragura's representative Igavaruji-san, Sky Wolf's representative Berette-san, and Rainbow's representative Mokunaku-san." Each person's eyes carried a different emotion, but one common sentiment between all of them was curiosity.

Igavaruji glared strongly at the still-standing Momonga, "I've never heard of Momon, or Momonga, so how you got mythril-ranked is a mystery to me." He glanced around at the others, searching for an answer.

"Momon-san's feats include taming the Virtuous King of the Forest, and resolving the cemetery incident last night." Issac ignored the hostile tone of Igavaruji, and answered his query.

"The cemetery incident?"

"The incident involving a huge number of undead last night?" Letting out of small gasp, the representative of Rainbow, Mokunaku, asked.

"You're, fuee, quite well informed. Strange that information so troublesome and highly restricted would find its way to your ear. Where did you hear it from, Mokunaku-san?"

"Apologies mayor. I also heard little about it, and truth be told it is difficult to answer your question of the source from where it was overheard. On top of that, I do not know of any more details." As their eyes clashed, both men smiled. Mokunaku had a false smile whilst the mayor had a wry smile.

"Fueee— sounds like a lie, but so be it. There should be plenty of people who know about the undead incident anyways. Fueee, sorry to have interrupted, Guild leader."

Despite the fact that Mokunaku was the one who actually interrupted, the mayor ended up apologizing. Understanding this, Burdon Issac did not reprimand him at all, "Never mind that. More importantly, you now know the reason Momon-san is mythril-ranked, Igavaruji-san."

"And who was the other fellow? He certainly seemed to recognize you, Momon." Igavaruji turned sharply to Momonga, gauging the enigma's reaction as best he could through the helmet.

Silence hung in the air for a couple seconds as Momonga struggled to find an answer, "…The truth is, when we set out from our homeland there were quite a number of us. Gradually they stopped coming back, gone forever…" Momonga unintentionally sounded quite heartfelt, increasing his legitimacy, "Zauberklinge… a while ago, he died. Or I guess we just thought he did. He probably felt some anger over the facts that I left him for dead and didn't recognize him immediately. We'll sort it out."

Everyone but Igavaruji nodded in an 'I see' manner. Indeed, this sort of out-of-the-hat story had become Ainz's specialty, and it spoke either to his luck or skill that, once again, he pulled it off.

"Foreigners… who spy on meetings, and solve a little trouble to get promoted. With their level of morals I wouldn't be surprised if Momon here caused the cemetery incident himself." Igavaruji barbed angrily.

"That's going too far, Igavaruji-san!" Issac defended, his temper flaring in response to Igavaruji's incendiary accusation.

"Perhaps you say so because that's what you would have done." Momonga returned, turning the dialogue around.

"Nonsense!"

"That's ridiculous, Momon-san. Please calm yourself."

"I also feel that Momon-san's rank is wrong." Theo interrupted, causing Igavaruji to grin. Rakesheer smiled back, a mocking smile, but the arrogant adventurer didn't notice.

"Great minds think alike. See, even the magician guild agrees with me."

Rakesheer's smile grew, "Contrarily, our beliefs are as different as night and day."

A puzzled glance from the previous speaker was the only reply he got.

"You see, the guild believes Momon-san's rank to be somewhat low."

Igavaruji's face showed plain disbelief.

Seeing that expression, Rakesheer entire face twisted in a smile.

"With only two people, Momon-san… no, including the Virtuous King of the Forest, the three of them broke through thousands of undead, and defeated the individuals in the middle of carrying out an evil ritual."

"So what? A stealthy team could easily manage that." Igavaruji scoffed.

"What you say is indeed correct. If I thought it was just that, then Momon-san would still not be orichalcum class. However a certain set of undead bones revealed Momon-san's true strength." After Rakesheer said these words, he looked with solemn eyes at Ainz who was wearing dark armor.

"...Skeletal Dragon bones. Momon-san killed a terrifying undead with absolute defense against magic."

"That, that..! A S-Skeletal Dragon is indeed very powerful! But then, even mythril class adventurers are able to def—"

"— defeat two at the same time?"

Silence fell over the group as Rakesheer's serious words sunk in, not only Igavaruji, but also from the other two adventurers. Following this, the way the two men looked at Ainz appeared to have undergone a slight change, as if trying to gauge the depth of his skills.

"The remains of two Skeletal Dragons were left on the scene. Within such a short amount of time, would your teams be able to break through thousands of undead, exterminate two Skeletal Dragons and kill the instigators, preventing them from setting their scheme in motion? Amongst the adventurers who headed towards the cemetery, there were even some who witnessed wraiths, the twisted souls of the departed, and other powerful undead."

Igavaruji wordlessly bit his lip.

"Let me ask you another question. Allegedly, apart from Momon-san there was also a woman in his team. That young woman was a magic caster. Against Skeletal Dragons, which have absolute immunity against magic, she could only be said to be quite powerless. In this kind of situation, if you likewise only had two people… no, including the Virtuous King of the Forest, three people, would it be enough to accomplish that kind of feat?"

Rakesheer gave Ainz a respectful bow:

"As one of the representatives of this city, I express my heartfelt gratitude to Momon-san. If it wasn't for your swift response, who knows how many lives would have been sacrificed. I would like to express my personal gratitude. If you should require anything, you only need to say it and I shall do whatever possible to assist."

"You flatter me, Magician Guild leader. I was only accepting Bareal-san's commission and resolved the problem, that's all."

Theo laughed, "To be so humble about it, even though the merit easily deserves orichalcum rank. Nay, even Adamantite would not be an overstatement. I heard your companion could use magic up to the third tier, I would have dismissed it if not for this Zauberklinge character, but I must ask, is it true?"

"I am delighted by your praise, but, I do not wish to show my cards so easily."

"Ho ho, that's really a shame."

"My team would've been able to handle it if we had been there! In the first place, having such few members is his own problem! It must be because of some defect in his character that he was unable to gather many members! In fact, didn't he already admit to losing quite a few along the way? A man who lets his companions die is not worthy to be called an adventurer!" Igavaruji yelled, desperate in his pride to deny Momonga's ability.

The room's atmosphere became tense. As if to cool down the heat, an out-of-tune 'fueee' sounded out.

"Let's end this discussion here. Everyone here didn't gather in order to argue amongst yourselves, right?"

Hearing the last fueee sound, Igavaruji sat down deflated. However he still held eyes full of angst against Ainz. To this appearance, the two Guild Leaders reluctantly shook their heads.

"I can understand the feelings of those who value strength, but this is not the main issue at this time. We'd better resolve the question quickly, alright?"

"Mayor, thank you."

"Ah? Although I do not know why you wish to thank me, please continue. Truth be told I'm not too clear either about what is going on."

"Before that, at least some basic etiquette is needed. Shouldn't you take off your helmet?" With an ironic tone, Igavaruji once again interrupted. Even if it were justified, it was still aggravating, and the other adventurers almost frowned.

"It doesn't matter, what he said this time is correct, I have indeed been disrespectful."

But when Ainz calmly removed his helmet, he revealed a fake face created with magic. The appearance was ordinary, not that of a handsome man.

"Because I come from a foreign country, in order to avoid trouble, I've been wearing my helmet. Please forgive my rudeness."

"Well then, I hope there are no more complications on that topic. I wish to immediately tackle the main issue."

"Because someone was late, I have yet to hear the contents."

"I am very sorry about this, please forgive me." Ainz lowered his head in a genuine apology. When he was an office worker, he often had similar experiences where meetings would only begin after the boss declared that all members were present, and as a result he was had to suppress his urge to go home. Because of that he was truly able to relate to their feelings.

With his frank and honest apology, in stark contrast to the constantly cynical and sarcastic Igavaruji, Momon came off as more noble.

"...Enough of this. If there are more interruptions, get out of here."

That person was of course Issac. With his eyes full of anger and not even half of the steadiness in his voice as short minutes before, the one he glared at was obviously Igavaruji.

Igavaruji gently bowed his head in apology.

Seeing the other side's candid movement, Ainz was puzzled. From the hostility shown towards him, it would not be surprising if at this moment Igavaruji were to display an attitude similar to the rebellious nature of middle schoolers towards their parents. Why then would he withdraw now?

After a brief moment of thought, Ainz arrived at a hypothetical conclusion: At this gathering of mythril ranked adventurers, if one person was kicked out, what kind of criticisms would he provoke? Even if the truth was let out, there would still be the possibility that others would think he was chased out because he was worthless. With this, his position amongst adventurers would plummet. This should be the reason why he shut his mouth.

"First a brief report. About two nights ago, adventurers patrolling the roads on the outskirts of E-rantel came across a vampire. Of these adventurers who met the vampire, five were killed. Everyone's gathering this time is because of this.

Due to being too afraid, the surviving adventurer only vaguely remembered the vampire's outfit, hair color and appearance. However, what remained was the strong impression of a 'silver haired large mouth'."

After listening to the description of the vampire's appearance, Ainz' hopes were easily shattered. Even if they only had a vague recollection of its appearance, anyone who knew Shalltear and overheard this would quickly connect it with her. In his heart Ainz was already certain of who the vampire was.

 _I don't know how the situation turned out like this, but I should better alter the memories of those survivors. This isn't good. I have to quickly find an opportunity._

As Momonga furrowed his illusionary eyebrows, the discussion continued.

"So that's how it is. I'm not too clear on this incident either, but then explaining solely for my sake would be too much a waste of everyone's time, especially with the cemetery incident and the matter of Momon-san's former companion."

"Understood. Then everybody, are there any questions?"

"Where is the concerned area?"

"Beyond the city's northern gate, you can find a large forest after walking for three hours. It's just inside that forest."

"What rank were those adventurers?"

"Iron."

"... Please tell me, is it only because of a vampire that so many adventurers have been gathered? Are we intended to use a bidding approach for this?"

"That's right, if it's vampires, platinum class adventurers should be sufficient to handle it, right? I absolutely don't understand why so many mythril-class adventurers were called."

"The reason is simple, that vampire is very powerful." Rakesheer interrupted with his answer, and everyone showed surprise as they looked at him.

"A very powerful vampire…?"

"Could you mean that the opponent is a higher class vampire… the one who appeared in the tale of the thirteen heroes, the vampire lord 'Landfall'?"

"We don't know whether or not the opponent is that vampire lord, but when the adventurers encountered the vampire, the opponent used the 3rd tier spell 「Create Undead」. What this means, I shouldn't have to explain to you adventurers right?"

There was nothing more to say. Not only that, their stiff expressions spoke volumes.

"Well — fueee — I absolutely do not understand what it means. Can you explain it to me?"

"I am really sorry, Mayor."

"Being able to use magic of that kind of realm, if we were to make a simple evaluation, we can treat the opponent as having platinum class capability."

Panasolei who roughly understood this explanation frowned, "That also goes to say… I will stop talking in such a way."

The light in Panasolei's eyes sharpened, this was one of the changes that the others felt. From the lazy, sloth-like expression just now, it became a savage wild boar expression. No, this was Panasolei's true appearance.

"In other words, Magician Guild Leader, your meaning is as such: a monster with the strength rivaling a platinum team, has skills that match a platinum team as well."

"What you say is correct."

"So simply put, it just got stronger?"

"Thinking about it in this way isn't wrong either."

"If we consider in terms of military strength, what is the equivalent?"

"Military… this question is rather difficult."

Rakesheer was vexed for a moment, then spoke, "This is roughly my personal way of viewing this. I should say this first, this view is not absolute. If we take the opponent as an army for evaluation, undead do not tire or require food… grudgingly I'd say it should be equivalent to about an army size of ten thousand."

"What did you say!?" Hearing this conclusion, Panasolei let out a shocked expression, as if seeking the opinions of the other adventurers. Apart from Ainz, the others nodded in agreement with the Magician Guild Leader's statement.

"Generally speaking, approximately twenty percent of the country's adventurers are above platinum ranking. Within the Kingdom there are about three thousand adventurers, therefore in all of the Kingdom's lands which consists of more than eight million inhabitants, there are only around six hundred adventurers of platinum ranking or above. Do you understand this? Adventurers of platinum rank or higher are that rare."

"If it's like this, even if I do not wish to understand, I already have. Then to counter this situation, I would like to ask you adventurers. Do you have the confidence to go ahead with the subjugation? If there is no way… how about seeking the assistance of Warrior Captain Gazef-san?" The mayor asked seriously, taking a deep breath afterwards.

Gazef Stronoff— the Kingdom's most powerful warrior, exceeding Adamantite adventurers. He could be considered the Kingdom's final trump card.

However, Issac replied negatively, "Indeed, perhaps no warrior is able to defeat Stronoff-san. However in a situation where Stronoff-san faced off against an adventurer team weaker than him, the victor would be the adventurer team. This is because the adventurer team would have different methods of attacking. Taking Stronoff-san for example, the amount of magic and martial skills used by the adventurer team would be four times that of Stronoff-san. Against a monster possessing special abilities, the truth is that this difference is enormous."

Panasolei looked like he wanted to debate, but Issac continued, "The best policy is to gather adamantium class and orichalcum class adventurers. Before that, let us first allow this city's best adventurers to build a defensive net to stop the vampire's invasion."

"Wouldn't this method be too passive?"

"Considering the worst possible development, this should be the best strategy. After all, isn't the opponent a single person who is able to rival an entire army?"

"With a fighting power able to take on huge number of troops, scenes of terror in all sorts of places would appear… I honestly do not wish to imagine this happening."

If the opponent was an army of ten thousand, their location could be easily determined from the marching. Also, to maintain such a large army, it would be necessary to prepare a large amount of rations, making it difficult to carry out a long-term siege.

But then, if it were a single person, how would this change? The power would be concentrated in one place, in addition, if one imagined what would happen if this one person could use invisibility magic… It was too frightening.

"However, about the Guild Leader's opinion, speaking as an adventurer I say that establishing a defensive net is a very difficult task. This is because in order to harmonize each other's movements, long-term training is necessary..."

"No need for that, it is enough if everyone is able to fight together. What do you think, gentlemen?"

The adventurers immediately raised objections to the mayor's suggestion, "It should not be possible. If we are to have a tacit arrangement for action, then it is necessary to devise of a tight-knit operational plan. But the more detailed the plan is, the more likely it is for mistakes to occur when unexpected situations arise. If it is like that, everyone acting by themselves instead of together might even be better. Speaking of which, why has the vampire appeared in that place? What has the Guild's investigation come up with?"

"In this regard, because the opponent is a powerful vampire, the guild has no means to investigate finer details. Just as we were about to assemble an investigation group, the incident last night occurred, and our manpower was dispersed there."

"... So that's how it is. Are you concerned that these two incidents are related?"

"That is true."

"Wasn't the matter in the cemetery resolved by Momon-san? From the remains and relics of the first incident's instigators was there anything to suggest a connection between the two incidents?"

This question made the place fall into a brief silence.

Before this the Guild Leader never hesitated in answering, yet for the first time his eyesight slightly turned towards the mayor. It was a asking-for-permission look. Just thinking about it a little, this could be related information to a terrorist attack against the city, and it was possible that some information but not all could be told to the adventurers.

"From the relics we gathered, the opponent was Zuranon."

The three adventurer's expressions turned serious.

But for Ainz, this was the first time he had heard of this name. He could not help praying to a god he didn't even believe in, hoping that he wouldn't be asked about things he knew nothing about.

 _Ignorance is frightening. I must gather intelligence as fast as possible._

"The secret organization which deals with controlling the undead… if that's the case, then it must be related to the vampire."

"Is it their plot to divide our fighting force? Or is everything a diversion, and the real plan will appear once we take action? This would be too disastrous."

"The priority of the task at hand should be to conduct reconnaissance. According to the ranger's reports, there's supposedly a bandit's den close to the location where the vampire had been discovered... …"

"The possibility that the vampire has already left that place is high… but then again, the possibility of it still remaining there is not zero. People should be sent there first…" The adventurer who was speaking suddenly stopped talking. It was only a natural reaction, because heading into the most likely place to find the vampire for an investigation was tantamount to agreeing to jump into the most dangerous place. If there actually was an encounter, and if the vampire possessed the predicted battle prowess, it would be certain death.

The remarks just now were no different to politely asking someone to go to their death.

"...Let us put this aside for now. It is still more urgent to strengthen the city defenses first, because perhaps the vampire has already at this moment snuck inside the city."

"... It is an easy feat to sneak inside the city just by using magic. This place is not like the Empire's capital with sky cavalry and magic casters patrolling everywhere."

It was possible to use [Flight] to enter the city from the sky, and it was also possible to use [Invisibility] to invade from the front. Magic was that troublesome. Therefore, concentrating combat power and putting it into defense first was a very natural idea.

"But then it will be incredibly difficult to deal with a situation without any sort of intelligence, therefore the cave should still be investigated first!" This extremely reasonable proposal gathered the collected approval of everyone present.

This kind of situation was not favorable for Momonga, who absolutely wanted to conceal the details of Shalltear's appearance and abilities. Although it was uncertain why future developments there would be beyond today, if Shalltear's current appearance was well-known throughout the city— even the Kingdom itself, then it could become a great obstacle to behind-the-scenes operations in the future.

Thus, he absolutely had to redirect events so that investigation would not occur. But, even though Ainz struggled desperately, he couldn't come up with anything.

In the end there was only one method which would prevent Shalltear's appearance from being leaked out.

Ainz swallowed his saliva he couldn't have secreted, and said:

"First, there has been a misconception. The vampire and Zuranon are unrelated."

"Why? Momon-san, do you have some insider information?"

"I know that vampire's name, because that vampire is the one we have been chasing to kill all this time."

"What?"

The atmosphere in the room shook, and everyone stared at him. Ainz overclocked his brain thinking, in mental preparation for the main event that was about to start.

"That is an extremely powerful vampire. My true objective of becoming an adventurer was to obtain information on them." Once again, Ainz showed his true talent: bull.

"You said them?"

"Yes. There are two vampires, of which the silver haired females name is…"

He suddenly stopped here. Originally he was about to say Carmilla, but female vampires going by that name were just too common. If there were any players around, this name would let them detect his own existence. At the moment he hesitated in deciding what name, he suddenly got a stroke of inspiration, and blurted out a name.

"Henupeunuty."

"Hah?" He heard a stupefied question. However it was not just one person, but almost everyone in unison. After-all, this kind of name was just too strange.

"...It's Henupenko."

Although it was a name he said himself, it felt like it was said differently from just now. If anyone questioned on this point, he intended to insist that he pronounced it wrong earlier.

"Henupenu…?"

"It's Henupenko."

Although he changed the female vampire's name's last syllable to "-ko", just from this name itself, no YGGDRASIL players should be able to detect that it was a name he had come up with. Ainz felt full of confidence in this perfect name, and smiled proudly under his helmet.

"Is, is that so? Then that Henu…. whatever! Since we know that female vampire's name… isn't it about time for us to know your true identity? Which country are you from?"

"—Very sorry, now is still not the right time. I am charged with carrying out a secret mission. If you were to find out, I will have to leave your country, and the vampire will be yours to deal with. I do not wish to allow the matter to become a country-to-country situation. Mayor, you should understand this right?" Figuring that such a tale would cover for both lies he was spinning, Ainz spit out such a tale.

The mayor nodded slowly. Seeing this motion, Issac clenched his lips and glared sharply at Ainz. The Guild Leader's glare did not bother Ainz in the slightest, but to what extent would they believe his lie? Were there any contradictions? Ainz was unsettled by these two concerns, but pushing this restlessness aside, with a tone of anger not permitting others to intervene, Ainz continued to speak:

"Let my team be responsible for the reconnaissance. If we discover any vampires, we'll exterminate them on site."

The dark warrior who arrived late decisively declared as such. Although they could not see his face, they could clearly feel his confidence and determination from the tone of his voice.

Pressure, making others mistaken that it was in fact the air itself shaking, cause people to let out a gasp. All of the people present thought it was themselves which made that noise.

"T-then, the other teams—"

"—Unnecessary. I do not need any hindering burdens."

He interrupted the other's proposal, gently waving his hand to indicate this.

This rude announcement was made with an arrogant attitude. Facing adventurers of the same rank, such demeanor was inappropriate. However, the adventurers present who had experienced hundreds of battles felt that this attitude was not borne from narcissism, pride or arrogance, but from cold calculation. At the same time he was also able to make such an assertion on the basis of his true strength. In reality of course, Ainz was putting on airs to ensure that no one went with him.

It felt as if the dark armor was expanding in front of their eyes, the growing feeling of oppression, even the room had the illusion of becoming narrower. From this man they sensed an aura whom they would forever not be able to catch up with, for example that felt from an adamantium class adventurer.

This fellow could be called a hero.

Issac, who could not resist remaining silent, took several deep breaths. No, every person present did the same motion, and the mayor was even sweating, loosening his collar.

As if whispering, Issac asked softly: "What about payment?"

"It is fine if this issue is discussed at a later time. However, until the completion of this incident: after the vampires are discovered and exterminated, I hope to at least be able to obtain orichalcum class. So that when searching for the other vampire, my actions will be smoother, because having to prove my strength is troublesome."

Suddenly, all of the persons present made an understanding noise.

Adventurers neither work for cities nor countries, nonetheless until this date this city had never had an orichalcum class adventurer. If he became this city's highest ranking adventurer he would probably earn a lot of attention and reputation. Moreover, being able to give the rare blessing of orichalcum rank would make this reputation spread further. Like this there would be more coming to be entrusted with highly dangerous missions, which would in turn increase the chances of receiving news on powerful vampires.

However, even if it could be accepted rationally, there was one man who couldn't accept it on an emotional level.

A chair creaked. Looking towards the source of the sound— it need not be said. It was the one who kept picking a bone with Ainz… Igavaruji.

"I cannot completely trust you. S-speaking of which, it isn't certain either that the vampire is actually that powerful! Even if there was magic used to control zombies, it could have been through the use of items. I wish to go too!"

Even after being shocked, Igavaruji was still able to object, all because he held unsatisfied hostile intent against Ainz, unwilling to admit to the extent of Ainz' true strength.

Perhaps it was displeasure towards his fellow adventurer's attitude, Berette said in a prickly tone:

"Igavaruji, your attitude—"

"—No problem." Ainz very simply agreed. However this was not out of well-meaning, since the following words were extremely cold.

"However, if you come along… certain death? I do not know whether it will be a complete elimination."

It was spoken like he was decisively announcing to others his foreboding fate, causing Igavaruji to shudder. No, not only Igavaruji, but also all persons present felt as if they were encased by a cold biting wind.

Ainz gently shrugged, "I've already given my warning. If you still do not mind then come along."

"O-of course!" Although it was a bluff, he would not back down here, not like this. As a fellow adventurer of the same class, how could he lose face in front of those who held the power in this city?

Just as the two were butting heads, Issac who had regained his composure a little asked Ainz, "Self-confidence is good, but how can you be so confident? Of course we are all too clear about your exceeding strength, but from the evaluation of the opponent's strength, you should also know that this task is not that easy. We are also concerned whether to entrust everything to you to handle. If… in the unlikely event that you are defeated, we also need to have a fallback planned out…"

Like a gunshot, Ainz immediately replied, "I have a trump card."

"What is it?"

"It's this." Ainz took out a crystal, more specifically, a magic sealing crystal.

"It can't be, can it?" Nearly losing his composure, this man who asked was Theo Rakesheer, the Magician Guild leader of E-rantel.

"I've seen them in books… supposedly the Theocracy had one of that kind, hailed as a treasure… a magic item holding enormous power. This is one of that kind: A sealed magic crystal. Why would you have such a rare item!?"

"Really amazing… you're right. And sealed inside the crystal is a level eight spell." To Ainz, a level eight spell was something to toy around with, but not so for Rakesheer.

"I must've misheard! What did you say!" Ainz' reply made Rakesheer let out a cry, one so strange that even a chicken being slaughtered would not make such a noise. His facial expression had also contorted to the point it was quite terrifying.

The ones caught by surprise weren't just Rakesheer but also all those present— no, apart from the mayor, everybody let out a stunned expression out of astonishment and fear. Even adventurers with little experience would be able to understand the meaning of Ainz' words, and the value of that item.

"...Eighth rank… that must be a concocted fabrication right?"

"...Perhaps it is a fantasy, but if it is that magic of that realm… really it is at the realm of myths."

"Are you kidding? That is nonsense!"

The three adventurers—even Igavaruji— displayed a look of fear, staring at the crystal on the dark gauntlet without peeling their eyes away.

"Apologies in advance! T-that item, may I borrow it for a second?"

"Why?"

"That… simply for the sake of a magic caster's interest. I swear I will not make any strange movements! If you need anything as collateral, I can give all items on my body to you." Saying such, Rakesheer began unbuckling his belt without so much as waiting for a reply.

However, Momonga easily acquiesced, "No problem, have a look."

"Sorry, may I also touch it?"

"Then I want too!"

The sealed magic crystal was fumbled and passed around through many pairs of hands until it finally landed Rakesheer's hands. He, who was the last to touch it, stared at it with misty eyes, like a woman who obtained her long sought after, precious jewel. No, perhaps it was even like a youth who had obtained a desired item.

"Too beautiful… right, Momon-san, may I cast magic on it?"

Seeing Ainz wave his hand in agreement, Rakesheer delightedly activated the magic.

" **Appraise Magic Item, Detect Enchant."**

After casting the magic on the crystal, Rakesheer's eyes widened and his mouth slowly opened, "Incredible! It's the genuine article."

The next movement Rakesheer made was to take the crystal, licking it all over, then rubbing it against his cheek—it was simply crazy behavior.

"C-calm down! What are you doing!"

Frightened by his friend who was not the type to show such mad behavior Issac stood up and got closer to Rakesheer. In fact, everybody looked upon him with either amazed or insufferable eyes. For a man holding a key position in this city to do such an action, it was just too difficult to see.

"How can I calm down? This is just too magnificent! Sealed inside here really is magic of the 8th tier! Although there is no way to know what kind of spell it is!"

Rakesheer could not hold in his excitement, gazing at the crystal with shining eyes. Soon he finally regained a little rationality, and asked Ainz, "Momon-san! W-where was this crystal found? Tell me quickly!"

"It was found in some ruins, at the same time as many other items were discovered. Of course the magic was already sealed inside this crystal at the time. I've already had several great magic casters determine this."

"So it's like that! W-where are these ruins?"

"In a very faraway place… That's all I can tell you."

Of course, this answer of Ainz made Rakesheer clench his lips in regret.

"Well, isn't it about time to return it to me?"

"Woo...ooo."

Rakesheer reluctantly gave back the crystal to Momonga, who proceeded to wipe it off with a handy parchment.

"Now, getting back to the main topic, I object to Momon-san fighting the vampire!" Silence greeted Theo's statement as Issac clapped his palm to his face.

"While I'm already pretty sure, I'll ask. Why?"

"Well, obviously, because it would be such a waste."

"Ignoring Rakesheer's opinion, I think it's safe to entrust this to you, Momon-san."

XX

Zaug looked both ways as he finished teleporting to the alley he'd been in before. If he was lucky, Momonga would smooth things over, but that was unlikely.

More chance he'd incite the whole kingdom against him.

In any case, Zauberklinge needed to get out of E-rantel, at least for now. Which direction though? Zaug was unsure what land the Re-Estize kingdom, although he didn't know that name, controlled, but assumed that it was unlikely they owned the mountains he'd seen to the north.

 _If this is as similar to Yggdrasil as I suppose, then it would be natural for dwarves to live in the mountains. I doubt they have extradition treaties, so that could work._

Determined, he invoked several tier nine anti-location spells and set out, running north.

XXX

 **Comments, criticisms, violent tirades about inserting a character into the storyline… hit me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Overlord, big surprise.  
Now here's the second installment of The Magical Swordsman, enjoy.**

X

As Zaug ran north, he contemplated his actions in the meeting room, deploring his own words and activities.

 _I should never have taken such a hostile stance. Even assuming he's alone, beating a Divine-gear guy like him would be somewhat of a challenge. Considering he's a necromancer, it'd be easier than some, but still…_

Still, that wasn't the main issue. For Takashi, attacking and killing a fellow citizen of Japan would be a great sin. Far better to work together to either make the world a better place, or find a way back.

 _If we say this is another planet, not in another dimension, then it's easy. Skeletons don't need air, and Momonga can summon a dozen at least that are able to use flight magic. Just send some Lichs a-scouting, and find earth. Obviously, that scenario is unlikely. We're probably in another dimension, an alternate reality._

Zaug stopped for a second in his running.

"Shouldn't finding out if this is likely earth or not be simple?" If acceleration due to gravity wasn't 9.8 m/sec2, it wasn't earth. If it was, then it was probably earth.

"Now we just need a 4.9 meter stick and something heavy to drop…" He reached into his inventory, pulling out a clothier's tape.

"Fifteen meters long… this should do nicely." He pulled out a random item and tied the tape around it such that there were exactly 490 centimeters remaining.

" **Flight."** Zaug flew up and dropped his measuring line, "Now how to accurately measure a second?"

In the end, Takashi was unable to find such a method and thus when he dropped his metal ball, he could only go by estimation. After a few tries, he eventually satisfied himself.

"Seems acceleration due to gravity is between 9.3 and 10.2 m/sec2, final results are inconclusive, further testing recommended." He glanced around and sighed, "Who am I even talking to? Off to the mountains."

Zauberklinge resumed his march, but not it was not long before a humanoid, hunched over in the middle of a clearing, caused him to stop in his tracks. _Those equips seem pretty impressive… wait a second._ Zaug's eyes focused on the lance the girl was holding, realization coloring his features.

"Shalltear Bloodfallen. Never thought I'd run into you anywhere but the first three floors of Ainz Ooal Gown's tomb." He said it quietly, so, unsurprisingly, there was no reply.

"Momonga and now Bloodfallen… so he came with his NPCs?" Zauberklinge bit his lip. Assuming the worst case scenario, Shalltear, the tomb, and every other NPC of Nazarick had come, and were loyal to Momonga. Which ultimately wouldn't be a big deal if they were still functioning properly, but obviously a floor guardian had left her haunt. This implied all of AOGs floor guardians could, a dangerous reality.

Zaug stopped in his thinking for a second, deciding to put on his best gear and return his shop-armor to his inventory.

On his feet were the [Swordsman's Boots of Alacrity] increasing speed and mana regeneration. They shone like polished silver and tendrils of light smoke were occasionally emitted from their soles.

On his legs were [Demon King's Draconic Leg Armor], a hard-won item that increased numerous resistances by reasonable amounts, he'd taken the week off to get it. It was made of dragon scales of various hues, black, green, red, and beige, put together in a stunning pattern that fully showed its impressiveness.

Around his waist was coiled one of his weaker items: [Two-Hander's Belt], which increased damage dealt by two-handed weapons. It was a steel-studded leather belt with a gem-encrusted buckle.

Shod was his chest in [Demon Overlord's Breastpiece], which increased his holy resistance and the level of his summons. It was polished black plate armor with golden strands upon its surface, which curved and coiled around, Red Sapphires adorned the shoulders.

Upon his head he wore [Gravity Tyrant's Crown]; this piece of Divine-rank equipment increased the effectiveness of his gravity magic, and increased his resistance to such attacks. It also provided a boost to his maximum health and mana. In appearance, it looked much like a standard crown, golden, and covered in gems. Yet it did not quite touch Zaug's head, indeed, it floated above it, circling slowly as it shined in the light. And, if one looked from above, they would see the roiling blackish-purple contained within.

Rings of great value rested upon six of Zaug's fingers. Finally, in his hands he held the World-class item, [Infinity Sword].

Once finished, Zauberklinge turned his eyes to the floor guardian before him; _she appears to be in a standby state._ This to him made no sense, even if Momonga had ordered her to stay right there, a proper NPC would stand at attention, not look at the ground. Then again, a proper NPC wouldn't even be able to exit her dungeon.

 _Either way, I should quickly make peace with Momonga-san. I don't want to fight six floor guardians at once._

" **Message."**

" _Ah? Zauberklinge-san, hello."_

"Hello Momonga-san, did you come with any guildmates?"

" _I'm not comfortable answering that question."_

"That's quite alright. Anyway, sorry about what happened at the Guild, I overreacted to your attack."

" _Ah, well."_

"I hope it didn't make things hard for you."

" _I managed, somehow."_

"Well, you'll have to fill me in when we meet. I'm nearby Shalltear Bloodfallen's location."

Fortunately for Ainz, his gasp was not conveyed over [Message].

"By the way, I'm quite curious, how did you get her to leave the tomb? Anyway, you don't have to answer now, but she seems to be in a strange state, like a powered-down or standby mode."

" _And you wouldn't know anything about that?"_ Momonga's tone bled animosity and suspicion.

"Huh? Aren't you the one who told her to? Don't tell me an undead got mind-controlled, it's not funny."

" _I didn't say that, why would you think that?"_

"Worst Case Scenario. I always try to think of those first and other options later. So, judging by your tone, she is mind-controlled. Are the rules in this new reality different somehow? Undead should have immunity."

" _If you aren't there when I show up, I'll assume you did it."_

"And you'll still presume I did it if I stay. Wonderful."

" _We'll talk it out at least if you do stay."_

"Let's talk it out now. If I had mind-controlled her, why isn't she following my orders? Clearly something weird happened."

" _Maybe you're just trying to trick me."_

"And maybe you're framing me. Sheesh man, if I had a World-class mind-control item that can do undead, do you think I wouldn't have used it on you?"

" _Maybe it has a limit or time constraint."_

"Plausible. Still, wouldn't I have hidden myself until the limit was over, taking Shalltear with me?"

" _Maybe it failed to activate properly and you couldn't."_

"In which case I'd still hide."

" _I have some business to settle for now. Stay put, Zauberklinge-san."_

"Like organizing a strike team? Fair enough," Zaug seated himself on the ground, as he ended the connection, mulling over his conversation with Momonga.

X

To Ainz, Zauberklinge was very suspicious. No sooner had Shalltear gone rouge than a player showed up, a high-level player who could quite feasibly possess a world-class item. It was certainly strange that he was wearing low-level shop armor though. Would someone aware of hostile level 100 entities nearby be so careless? Not likely.

To add to that, Zauberklinge had no guild, and thus would be unlikely to start a fight with Ainz Ooal Gown. Perhaps he'd come with friends who were standing by with real equipment? But if he really wanted a fight, why hadn't he killed Ainz right then and there? It would have been easy. Easier still if he'd controlled Shalltear, who he could then sic onto him.

It didn't add up. Zauberklinge was suspicious, but he wasn't a genuine enemy. Or at least he wanted him to think that. What was his play? And what play should Ainz himself make? Even if Zauberklinge genuinely didn't want a fight now, what if they clashed later?

 _...But preemptive killing? I can't do that. He and I should band together to search for more players, if he's here too that must mean others are too. Maybe even some of my comrades._

XX

Zaug straightened himself up as he saw Momonga approaching, two dark elf children behind him, and behind them were a couple monsters. Momonga was in the gear he most often used, the set he'd worn when the server shut down.

"As expected of an Elder Lich Necromancer who heads up a famous guild, you look most impressive." Zaug smiled and greeted pleasantly, resolving to be polite and lighthearted.

"Skip the pleasantries if you please."

"Ah, ah. Here's where you're supposed to say 'You don't look so bad yourself.'" Zaug grinned broadly.

"I'll get to the point. Did you mind-control Shalltear?" Momonga challenged sternly.

"We've been over this. No."

"Do you know who did?"

"I arrived in this world just this morning. I don't even know whose country we're in." Zaug shrugged.

"Truly? And did you come just as the server shut down?"

"At the very moment."

"Curious indeed." Ainz stroked his chin, "Do you have any method to break the control on Shalltear?"

"No."

"In that case I'll have to ask you to retreat along with Aura and Mare, this is my business."

"Aren't you being hasty, Momonga-san? If we can find the one who used the world-class item, we can take it and you can try it on Shalltear."

Ainz paused for a second, he hadn't thought of that, "No. I cannot leave Shalltear here, since I've already staked the honor of Momon on it. If I fail to remove her, the kingdom will become aware of Nazarick."

 _He came with the whole kit and caboodle, huh? That sucks for me, but it'll make getting back to earth easier, if I even want to go back._

"Suit yourself. I'm sure you don't trust me enough to let me join in the fight, so I won't offer."

"Thanks for your understanding. Aura, Mare, make sure he doesn't try anything."

"Yes, Ainz-sama." Aura replied for the both of them.

Zaug inspected his two escorts, lifting his brow at their appearance. _Trust role-players to design traps and the like, is one a boy? Are both?_ He couldn't quite tell, so he just suspended his inspection of them as he walked away with the elves and then coolly examined Momonga's battle.

XX

 _What a pay-to-win guy. He could have just used his subordinates but some twisted idea of pride made him fight alone and waste consumables. And one-shot consumables too, not something like a potion which can be easily remade ingame._

Zauberklinge was the sort who basically hated to use consumable items, always thinking 'What if I need it later?' This unfortunate habit had caused his death a couple times, but admittedly saved some cash.

But, his diplomatic skills were high enough that he wouldn't say something like that outright, instead, he clapped slowly as Momonga approached, "I'm sure you want to get straight to reviving her, and I'm not stupid enough to assume I'll be getting an invitation."

Momonga turned his way, "Thanks for understanding. I've somewhat sorted out things with the guild, so you should be fine to continue adventuring."

"Somewhat sorted things out? Tell me what you pulled over their little eyes so I can actually have a chance of not messing things up."

Ainz nodded, and related to him the cock-and-bull story he'd given the Vampire Meeting's members.

"Not bad. To think that up on the spot and make things easy for me, thanks. Since you've been here at least a little longer than me, I'll be counting on you to fill me in on things around here. I'll pay back the favor, sometime or other."

"Why don't you stay here until I'm back? This shouldn't take long."

"I don't mind." Zaug rolled his shoulders, "I'm sure I'll be in good company anyway." He jutted his head towards the elf twins.

"Negative. I'm taking them."

Zaug shrugged, "Suit yourself."

" **Portal.** Come, Aura, Mare."

"Yes."

"Y-yes."

They left with that, leaving Zaug to his thoughts.

 _It could have been worse, but one misstep and I'm toast. This guy has literally thousands of loyal servants, and assuming he can revive Shalltear, he can revive all of them. I can't win. I need allies._

"I could really use you right now, Aniki."

There was no answer, but of course, Incursio hadn't come with Zauberklinge. He was alone in this foreign land with a man he once considered his enemy. And this man, this Momonga, now held the power of life and death over him.

 _ **I need to concoct a perfect strategy for killing him…**_ He mulled it over for a couple seconds, _What am I even thinking of? It would be shameful to betray the trust Momonga has so obviously placed in me, despite having every reason not to._ _ **Who cares about shame and honor, isn't our life worth protecting?**_

"Silence!" Zauberklinge's roar contained all of the kingly aura his gear lent him, and blasted out with power enough to shake the trees to their roots. "I have decided my path, who now shall steer me from it? Let him stand before me and face his doom!"

Finally, the voices in his head, his own voice, subsided.

XX

After a while, a purple portal once again opened before Zaug, drawing his gaze.

"Momonga-san."

"Zauberklinge-san."

"How was it?"

"It went well; the NPC resurrection function is fully operational."

 _Well dang, if he's a good guy that'll be sweet, but if I have to fight him later, it'll suck._ "Excellent news. What should my plans be?"

"I've given it some thought, would you mind travelling a little?"

"See the sights, be a hero, and give you information?"

"Indeed. Now, we're currently in the Re-Estize Kingdom, which is just as it sounds, a feudal society. Nobles and King war constantly, rarely with troops, for power. To the east is the Baharuth Empire, which was previously much like the kingdom, but ultimately the kings essentially abolished the nobles, and so it's now an Empire. To the south is the Slane Theocracy, they worship the six gods and the power of governance is in the hands of the Archbishops. I've had a run-in with them before, they were causing trouble. Apparently adventurers don't exist there. That's the only meaningful information I really have."

"What about power levels? I'm not too clear on this, but I'm thinking tier 10 magic isn't well-known."

"Tier 3 magic is considered extraordinary, and anything above 6th tier is considered myth or legend. Although… They do have something strange called Martial Arts. It's definitely not magic, but I have no idea how it works."

"I see. So I shouldn't go around Dragon Lightninging everything I see?"

"Please don't. I hope you'll agree, but until we really know what's going on I think we shouldn't be rash."

Zaug nodded in total agreement, "Only use what you need to use to win. Not hard. So, where am I going? Since you seem to have the Kingdom covered."

Momonga seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking firmly, "I want you to go south to the Theocracy, try to figure out who's in power and if there's anything to fear from them."

"You mentioned you had a run-in with them?" Zaug thirsted for elaboration on this point.

"Yes. They were trying to heighten tensions between the Kingdom and Empire and finish off the Kingdom's strongest warrior, Gazef Stronoff. The leader of their gang pulled out Dominion Authority from a sealed magic crystal. He seemed to think it was strong enough to destroy a country."

"So they're making a play to conquer at least a portion of Re-Estize, eh?"

Ainz nodded lightly, "Seems so. In addition, they're very racist, hating everyone but humans."

"And we can't have that, eh?" Zaug joked, cracking a grin, "I'll make sure to keep my tail inside in armor."

Ainz stroked his chin, "Should I send someone with you?"

"A chaperone for me? Not that I mind, but I'm not going to take orders from your subordinates, and I doubt they want to take orders from me."

"… That could be an issue." For Ainz who had mostly evil and cruel minions, who were all non-humans and often with poor personalities, it was a difficult decision. _I can't send Sebas, I need him here. And beyond the Pleiades and him there isn't much selection. Shizu would do I guess, she'll follow my instructions to the letter, and as a robot there's no way to bribe her anyway._ Ainz conveniently forgot Shizu's obsession with 'cute' things, preferring to accept his own genius plan.

"I have someone in mind."

"Good, get this someone some adventurer-looking gear and we'll head to the Empire, register 'someone' there, and then march on down to the Slane Theocracy." Zaug proposed, although his tone sounded rather more imperative than suggestive. As for why Zaug wanted to register Shizu, it wasn't too complicated, he wanted to be able to walk into any Adventurer's Guild and earn cash right away.

"Very good. CZ2128 Delta's her name, she'll be the treasurer."

"Power of the purse huh, learned from good old democracy how to keep people in check have we?"

As Ainz was incapable of frowning, smiling, or otherwise expressing emotions on his face, Zaug got no reply. Except, of course, the visage of a walking-talking skeleton.

"If she perishes, we'll be putting you on the 'to kill' list." Ainz rumbled slowly.

"Scary, scary. I hope she isn't level one or something."

"Total of 46, only someone of Adamantite-class should be worrisome."

"What if I run into a hostile player?"

Ainz hollow eyes seemed to bore through him in their intensity, the undead flames contained within giving a hint as to the answer, "Then you had better secure her escape first."

Zauberklinge looked up into Ainz's fiery stare, meeting it tenacity for tenacity, "I have heard and understood, Momonga-san."

"Call me Ainz. In the interest of spreading the name of my guild and finding my comrades, I've changed my name to Ainz Ooal Gown."

Zaug broke eye contact with him, "Yes, Ainz. No need to be formal with me either."

"Zauberklinge, I wish you luck in your quest."

"Thank you very much. Also, if you meet a player named Incursio, please be lenient, he's my brother."

"That all depends on what crimes he has committed."

"But of course." Zaug acquiesced easily, "I'm sure your plans need tending to, so I'll keep you no further."

Ainz looked him over once more, "You should probably wear something more than that leather armor you had earlier, but less than your current getup. And I'm off. **Portal."** With no further words, the Overlord of Death stepped into his [Portal], the swirling purple gate closing behind him.

"Change, is it?" He looked himself over after bringing out a large mirror from his inventory, "It is. I look much too impressive for these parts."

He then began to rifle through his inventory, finally deciding on a many-sectioned enchanted steel plate armor. He opted to leave his head showing, but graced his back with a light-blue cape.

"It's a bit shiny, but no matter, soon it shall be stained with blood." _Or dirt_ , he thought to himself. After all, he could move so fast that blood wouldn't even land on him, if he wanted.

x

In half an hour, a beautiful girl stepped towards him, her red-gold hair shining in the afternoon sun. She was clad in camo gear, with a skirt instead of pants, and had a gun strapped to her waist. To Zaug, it looked rather like a 2100 SMG.

 _Gunner class? Is that not going to be a problem? This Momonga guy, I have no idea how he thinks. Then again, the people here should have no idea about guns and just treat it as a magic tool, or know all about them and not care._

"A pleasure to meet such a well-looking individual," He stuck out his hand. CZ2128's eye turned to it, and she cocked her head two degrees to the side for a couple seconds.

Finally, she accepted his handshake and began to speak. "Please call me Shizu," Her voice was painfully monotonic, but Zauberklinge refrained from grimacing.

"And I'm Zaug. We'll be working together for a while, so I hope we can get along."

"I hope so." She flatly agreed with him.

His gaze briefly rested on the target marker on her uncovered eye, but ultimately Zaug chose to disregard it.

"Flying everywhere is probably a bad idea, so I hope you don't mind walking."

Shizu shook her head slightly.

"Aren't we a merry party?" He asked sarcastically, smiling at her lack of speech, "Off to the Empire."

The primary reason to register Shizu in the empire was, of course, because Zaug didn't want to go back to E-rantel. There were other reasons as well, like making them seem cross-national and strange. This way, inquisitive organizations would be more interested in them.

 _After-all, it's easier to find out how strong the enemy is if they come to you._

Was it a risky plan? Of course it was. But Zaug wasn't intent on being overcautious, he needed results. And if the foes were too strong, he could simply switch sides.

XX

Simone Polieri wasn't an extremely powerful fellow, but his adventurer plate proved at least a certain level of competence. Solid iron, it was made of, and it gave him a small measure of pride to touch it when the room got crowded with newbies with their copper plates.

He also enjoyed telling tales of high-level heroes. He'd met a couple platinum-ranked adventurers once, and their aura and bearing were on a whole different level from him. They were experts who, with less than two dozen people, could defeat someone in the realm of heroes. They were individuals worth respecting, to the extent that Polieri's dream was to be counted amongst their number.

But when _those two_ stepped into the guild building in Tsutyte, he realized that the color of the plate didn't make the man. No, it only indicated how the rest of the world saw them.

That shining armor, that ridiculously big sword, the beautiful, oh so beautiful, woman behind him, the confidence with which he stepped into the room— from his head of dark hair to his muddy greaves, this man outshone those platinum-rank adventurers. Even the laughable copper plate didn't fool Simone, these two were beyond that level, were they mythril… maybe even orichalcum-class.

The handsome man, he looked to be in his early twenties, smiled richly at the reaction to his entry.

"Just how much did that armor cost?" Simone's teammate breathed in awe and jealousy.

"Probably a count's ransom," Voiced the other member of his party.

"Do you suppose he's here to try his hand at the Katze Plains undead?" The first asked.

"If he defeated a skeleton warrior I wouldn't be surprised." Simone chimed in.

"A skeleton warrior, seriously? I wouldn't go within 500 meters of one."

"Stop kidding around, Simone, it takes a gold-ranked adventurer to deal with those undead, at least."

"Yeah. They are stronger and have much better equipment than a normal skeleton."

"Hehe, I'd love to lay my hands on a skeleton warrior's sword."

"The only way you'll touch a skeleton warrior's sword is with it stuck in you."

The recipient of the insult made a face, but didn't disagree.

"How many martial arts do you suppose the guy knows, Polieri?"

Simone finally broke from his entranced state and turned back to his party members, "Probably at least half a dozen. If he's rich enough to get that armor, I'm sure he had excellent instructors."

"Eh, who knows, he might be the lazy sort. Too busy with the maids to learn martial arts, you know what I'm saying?"

"No, no. He specializes in 'sword' arts."

Simone's two idiot teammates guffawed at that.

XX

Zaug smiled as he took in the reaction of his surroundings as he passed through the city, humming merrily inside.

 _Seems this armor works well for making me famous. It's not as great as Momon's getup, but I don't need to compete with him._

The Guild was far from crowded when he arrived, three Iron-plates being the only ones, besides the clerk. Perhaps these three preferred people watching to the comforts of a rowdy tavern. Or perhaps they wanted to recruit likely-looking persons to help them with a quest.

He studiously avoided looking at them after his initial glance though, being more partial to giving the impression of a purpose-driven man as compared to a bumpkin. He did, however, take note of their conversation as he spoke to the receptionist.

"This is my friend Shizu; please register her as an adventurer."

"…AH! Yes, uh, no problem." The boy behind the counter responded in a fluster, clearly entranced by Shizu's good looks.

"Uhh, you can read, I hope?"

"Yes." Zaug replied sagely, despite the fact that not so very long ago he could not read the language at all. The reason was simple; he had equipped the [Monocle of Language], which allowed him to understand almost all languages. When he looked at the words he was unable to read it properly, but somehow he understood the meaning. It was a strange and mystical feeling.

After confirming that there was nothing strange in the contents, he handed it Shizu, who duly signed.

He then headed over to the mission board, where he found a fairly standard notice: _To the south lies a forest, in which dangerous monsters dwell. Exterminate monsters and bring both fangs for reward. The Adventurer's Guild, the city of Tsutyte, and the Baharuth Empire are not responsible for injuries sustained._

Zauberklinge tried to think up monsters that didn't have two fangs, but came up short. Almost all of them did, especially around here. Although, finding a monster that was missing teeth would be disastrous for his economics, considering he had almost no money.

"What if we kill a monster with magic so strong that the fangs are destroyed?" To Zaug, it seemed commonsense enough. But after half a second of awkward silence, he realized his blunder.

" _Tier 3 magic is considered extraordinary, and anything above 6_ _th_ _tier is considered myth or legend."_

He chuckled lightly, "Just a hypothetical, it must have happened before, right?"

"At that stage, I don't think goblin extermination would be what this hypothetical magic caster would be doing." One of the three adventurers reasoned.

"That makes sense." He responded as if accepting the argument.

Zaug turned his head to the side until a pop was heard, and then turned to his companion, "Let's go, Shizu."

Technically, he should have been concerned with necessities like a tent, water, and food, but it wasn't an issue for Zaug. He could use an infinite bread item for food -or eat his prey for that matter-, and a water pitcher for drink, as for sleeping, he was fine with the ground.

 _Isn't sleeping on the cold hard ground alone with a beautiful girl surrounded by goblins and wolves every man's dream?_ Although, he did admit that only an idiot would actually wish to be surrounded by wolves.

As they left the guild and entered into the city once more, Zaug couldn't help but marvel at the quality of the streets.

"Assuming this is a middle-ages style world shouldn't we be ankle-deep in mud at least?" The difference between his scientific commonsense to the common sense in a magic-based world was a bit much.

That didn't change the fact that the streets were dirt and not asphalt, but it was impressive in its own way. Or at least, Zaug felt it was impressive.

 _Perhaps I am an optimist?_ No, that didn't sound right. He was a pessimist, as far as expectations went, and was pleasantly surprised when he was wrong.

His gaze was then drawn to the noisy street vendors, loudly proclaiming the largely fanciful greatness of their wares. All was hustle and bustle as shoppers and sellers rapidly haggled over prices, loud were the yells of the fellows who got pranked by the urchins, and quiet were the guardsmen, who watched over the gate.

Before he knew it, Zauberklinge had passed from the city, beyond its din, and had stepped out onto the broad grasslands south of Tsutyte. Rocks of various sizes occasionally obstructed the view, and small groves of trees offered some small relief from the otherwise unblocked wind, but it overall resembled an untouched prairie. It seemed to Zaug that the people here certainly weren't low on farmland.

"Broad are the grasslands, untouched by man. Large is the forest, and we are without a plan." He grinned in success, glancing to Shizu to see her reaction. It was as expected: Zero.

He continued to try his hand at rhyming to pass the time, marveling at the utter lack of anything else to stave off the boredom.

"A demon required a man to tell, if he needed so much as a spell. Long was the night, and cold; but we haven't earned a single gold! 'Go get 'em!' was the general's cry, but this lack of a plan made things go awry."

He thought for a bit longer, willing himself to create an actual poem.

"Gone were the gods and gone were the men,  
foul was the air with the scent of skeleten,  
Ainz Ooal gown looked on with a frown,  
for before him lied heroes of renown.

Broad were their swords and strong were their greaves,  
Sharp were their spears and they owned not sheaths,  
The positive glow of their glistening gear,  
Sounded a lot like breaking glass to his ear.

The battle was joined and fierce was the fight;  
they struggled for victory all through the night.  
But finally when those heroes renowned  
Struck that ancient deathlord to the ground,  
all they could hear was the sound of laughter.  
And soon they were sent on to the hereafter!"

He nearly giggled at his accomplishment, "If I weren't sure there are better poems in existence, I'd say that deserves a medal."

Shizu didn't look so pleased though, probably finding the content treasonous. And for that Zaug couldn't blame her, for he had described the death of her beloved master.

"So Nazarick has a ban on slightly anti-Ainz poetry? Too bad I'm not subject to that rule, being an independent contractor."

Delta glared at him from behind, "Should I terminate your existence?"

"I'd rather you didn't try but, with a total level of 46, it's not as if any of your attacks could hurt me."

Shizu continued to glower at him from behind, choosing to not help him in the fighting for that day, of which there was none. It seemed that either the monsters were nocturnal, or that someone had cleared them out.

..

"As an automaton, you shouldn't need sleep, yes?"

"Yes." Her tone was the same as ever, bland.

"Then I'll trouble you for guard duty. Wake me up if anything comes." Technically, he should be able to use items to keep him going, but Zaug didn't want to for now, preferring the normalcy of natural sleep.

 _Poor Ainz, can he even sleep if he wants to?_ To Takashi, this was a sad situation indeed. Not _having_ to sleep might be nice, but to suddenly be _unable_ to sleep… it was horrible.

XXX

When Zaug awoke light was shining down from a low angle, the tell-tale sign of either sunset or sunrise. He looked around calmly, noting with satisfaction that he had not slept all through the day.

"What a pleasant morning, eh, Shizu?"

Silence was her reply, not deigning to talk with Zaug. He smiled wryly at her obvious hostility, curbing the anger that threatened to boil over from somewhere inside.

"Demon race is surprisingly annoying, all these emotions." Racially, he was given to Ira, Invidia, Superbia, Luxuria, Gula, Avaritia, and Acedia, the seven deadly sins. And he was quite aware of this fact, so he adopted an uncaring and joking exterior, burying these dangerous impulses inside.

"You liked my poem so much you're speechless, right, Shizu?"

"Wrong."

"Oi, so harsh," He got up and stretched out his sore self. Sleeping on the ground hadn't been the brightest idea he'd ever had. Nonetheless, something like that wouldn't stop a level 98 Magic Swordsman.

"Anything attack during the night?"

Shizu nodded, to his great displeasure.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"Wolves." She pointed about 100 meters behind him at a corpse pile.

"Well if it was just standard wolves… in the future though, avoid fighting without notifying me." If the wolves had just been a diversion and a high level attacker came in behind, it would have been a disaster, and Zaug was fully aware of this. And he didn't like disasters.

"You did collect the fangs, I hope?"

Shizu nodded again. She didn't like Zaug, but for her master who had ordered her, she was willing to get along with even an irreverent and treasonous man. However, she couldn't help but feel that the Supreme Being Ainz had made a mistake in trusting this wily demon. Why not simply terminate him? If Albedo and any of the other guardians teamed up, Zaug's destruction was assured.

"I, who am a man of the past, shall now become a man before the mast…" Zaug considered his rhyme seriously after spouting it out thoughtlessly. Should he sail away to some other continent? He could let Ainz face his own fate, and simply run away.

But one of his teachers' lines appeared in his mind, 'A man who runs away from danger because it is easy, is a man not worthy of his blade.' And another came after, 'Even suicide cannot atone for cowardice.'

Zaug sighed heavily, torn between logical self-preservation and what he knew to be right.

 _Isn't this stupid though? Just because Ainz was a PK-Guild's leader doesn't mean he'll be evil over here._

He nodded in satisfaction at this conclusion, but couldn't fully shake his bad feeling.

XX

 **Authors Note: And that's chapter two, I hope you'll point out any mistakes, but I also want a bit of praise :). Feel free to be somewhat upset about how long this chapter took, there's no excuse.**

 **Also, I hope you appreciated my little poem. For some reason I was in a mood for that, so it popped out. Plus, I felt it fit with Zaug's personality.**

 **And now for a Sun Tzu quote:** "Thus the highest realization of warfare is to attack the enemy's plans; next is to attack their alliances; next to attack their army; and the lowest is to attack their fortified cities."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

XX

After some experimentation, Zaug found that his summons were still temporary, but after conferring with Momonga, it seemed that permanent undead could be created with corpses. Since demons weren't undead, Zaug realized that getting his hands on a human corpse wasn't the answer, but he still wanted permanent summons.

 _If there was a way, then with my once a day level-79 summon I would be able to grow my army at a constant rate, and if we include my low-level summons… I won't need to fear the undead boy._

Although he didn't know it, Zaug had nothing to fear from Ainz, who sincerely wanted someone from the old world to remain with him. He couldn't stop himself from wishing that there would be someone non-artificial he could trust.

Even if his NPC subordinates supported his every move, no, because they supported them, Ainz grew weary. He hated living up to the grandiose expectations they had for him - but Ainz didn't dare stop trying, for the memory of his old friends, he would keep Nazarick running strong.

Zaug however, had no idea of the good intentions of the Overlord, and was exceedingly wary of him. Nonetheless, he had already committed to procuring information about the Slane Theocracy for Ainz, and wasn't about to go back on his word without solid evidence of hostile intent.

And thus, three days after his first in the new world, Zaug found himself in a city in the Theocracy, discovering how bothersome that particular nation's policies were.

"I'm afraid an adventurer's plate won't do in the Theocracy, good fellow. You absolutely must register or go back to whatever country you're from and obtain diplomatic papers." The speaker was an armored knight in his early thirties; a low-ranking officer of the law who had been called in after Zaug admitted he wasn't from the Theocracy.

 _Oh, how troublesome. If only I had casually mentioned we are from the south and got lost or something._

"And how exactly do we register?"

"Then you wish to proceed that way? Alright, I'll lead you there."

 _Eh, I can use this too. If I find government employment, I should be able to directly infiltrate those Six Scriptures or whatever. At that point, discovering their power level should be like taking candy from a baby._ Assuming, of course, that they were within a measurable range, but Zaug didn't want to dwell on that.

The knight took them to the city's Citizen Registry Center, which caused Zaug's brow to rise. He'd expected to write down his name and description or get a passport or something, not to become a bona fide citizen.

"What exactly does becoming a citizen entail, then?"

"The Slane Theocracy gets new inhabitants all the time, and it's common practice to accept them as citizens. You'll get a written form to fill out if you can read and write, otherwise a clerk will help you out. All the questions will be there, and there's quite a few, so I won't go over it ahead of time." Their guide explained cheerfully.

"It's a bit embarrassing to say out loud, but I can't write." Zaug smiled wryly.

The man glanced over his shoulder as he led on, "It's perfectly natural. While the Slane Theocracy has an excellent education system, frankly, you're an immigrant. But not everyone understands, and knowledge is power, so I recommend that you learn if you can afford it."

"I understand, thank you very much..."

"Uldre Fertyi Qauint. But please just call me Uldre."

"Then thank you, Uldre-san. I'm just Zaug and my companion is just Shizu." Zaug grinned sardonically at his own lack of a last name.

"Please enter, and don't worry too much about things, just answer honestly and you'll be fine." Uldre ushered them into the magically lighted building with his hand.

"Thanks again for your help, Uldre-san." Zaug turned back and politely thanked him once more.

The man's blue-green eyes glanced to him and lingered for a moment longer on Shizu, "It's an officer's duty to ensure smooth transitions for humans, don't mention it." He turned on his heel and left abruptly.

"Welcome, sir, and miss. I'm Iftur; you're here to register, yes?" A somewhat oily man greeted them from behind a counter as they delved deeper into the building. He looked to be past forty, but Zaug couldn't guess better than that. His clothing was a drab brown, though his belt buckle was shiny silver.

Zaug quickly took in his surroundings, ensuring that there were no traps, "That's right."

"You read?"

Zaug shook his head, and Shizu quickly took notice, shaking her own.

"Then, I'll guide you through the process and my assistant will help the miss."

The man flipped up a part of the counter, picking up a few papers as he went. He then seemed to realize something and turned back, "Amina!"

There was the sound of something heavy falling and the tale-tale airy sound of falling papers followed it closely, "Y-yes!" The voice was high-pitched, and obviously from an adolescent female.

"Help this miss register, and do it right."

"Ahh, no problem," Amina showed herself, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She was a brown haired girl in her late teens with any chest she had hidden under a thick robe.

"Use room two, and don't dilly dally." The boss instructed sternly. He then motioned with his hand to Zaug, indicating that he should follow him.

They walked a short distance through a hallway, and entered into a small windowless room with grey walls. There was a table with a device on it, and a chair with adequately soft covering on its wooden frame.

"Please take a seat. And remove your right gauntlet."

Zaug hesitated, before mentally shrugging and sitting down after placing his greatsword against the wall. After he did so, he quietly removed the armor from his right hand, and placed it softly on the table.

His three largest fingers all had marvelous rings, two of which were Divine-class, while the last was a mere Legacy-class ring that he hadn't replaced for years. Zaug was betting on the fact that his examiner wouldn't recognize their value, but it was a risk.

"Magic rings…?" Iftur postulated hesitantly, noticing their brilliance.

"Ah, yes, I laid out a pretty penny for them too. Impressive, right?" Zaug smiled charmingly and acted naturally, proudly, like an adventurer with expensive gear would.

"Very much so," Even low-class rings were super expensive, saving up for a year on his own salary wouldn't be enough; it was no wonder that Iftur was awed by them.

"So, what do I do?" Zaug, noticing the expression on Iftur's face, hastily brought the conversation back online.

"Place your right hand palm down into that device, and absolutely don't break it."

Zaug followed the instruction, and placed his hand into the oddly shaped thing. It had a round base, and six flat boards stood up at regular intervals around its edges. On these boards were many words in a strange language, and they reminded Zaug very much of talismans. The device's surface sloped upwards as it grew nearer the center, ending in a plateau that Zaug put his hand on, his finger grasping the slope of the cone gently.

After this, Iftur grabbed the rope that was attached to the device, and tied his hand down.

"This, along with my trained eye, is a lie detector. It's not totally accurate, but for individuals like you who seem dangerous, it's something necessary."

 _Strange that he'd tell me it isn't 100% accurate. Is he just stupid, or does he want me to try it?_

The man grabbed the papers he had brought with him and turned to Zauberklinge, "Name?"

"Zaug."

"Race?"

"Well, I was human last week, should I check?" Zaug joked with half a smile.

The man scrunched his face until his obviously well-used frown lines showed, "Human. Do you wish to be a part of the Slane Theocracy?"

Zaug broadened his smile, "That depends if I get to be interrogated every day." Iftur's hand went behind his back, "Want to? That's difficult. If I can find a good job and protect humanity, then yeah."

Zaug's interrogator scribbled something down on his paper, and turned back to his subject matter, "You want government employment then?"

"I want to fight for a good reason, and playing babysitter for a noble isn't my favorite. So yeah, something where I can get some action, save the world and all that?" Like all his other answers, it was certainly true, without being the whole truth.

"Do you worship the Six Great Gods?"

"Frankly, no. I can appreciate their sentiment though."

Iftur frowned again and scribbled down the answer, "How strong are you?"

"You really gonna take my word for it?" Zaug closed one eye and raised his other eyebrow, pausing for a second, "I can use fifth-tier magic." Why bother wasting time working up the ranks? If he could be inducted immediately into the Scriptures, he'd be that much closer to his objective. Of course, it was a plan utterly lacking in self-preservation, but Zaug felt that he could leave caution to the necromancers.

Iftur eyes blazed through his face and out through the back of it in their intensity, "Say that again."

"I can use fifth-tier magic."

He leaned in closer, "Again."

"I can use fifth-tier magic."

Closer still came Iftur's reddening face, "Again."

Zaug leaned in closer too, such that their faces were just a couple inches apart, "I can use fifth-tier magic." He enunciated every syllable with precision and spoke slowly, successfully keeping most of his exasperation inside.

Iftur pulled his head back and laughed, "Marvelous! Wonderful! I haven't heard of you before, Zaug-sama. From whence do you hail?"

"I have come from roaming the earth and going back and forth in it." Zaug quoted with a quarter-smirk.

"Well, it's only natural you don't want to tell me, but I would love to know."

"I come from a faraway place, I learned all the magic I could, and departed." All facts, but it was more like 'he was departed' rather than 'he departed'. And, to the recipient of the information, it sounded like tier-five was the max where he came from, but it was not so. Rather, Zauberklinge had learned the maximum number of spells he could.

"But, well, I've been fooled before. I trust you have no objection to proving your claim?" Iftur recovered himself and adopted a more businesslike tone.

"What objection could there possibly be? But we should probably finish here first."

Iftur ran him through the final questions, and used another magical device to determine if he had a special talent. As a Player, he obviously didn't, but it surprised the man again. It was downright unbelievable to him that someone without an inborn talent could use fifth-tier magic.

But for Zaug, tier five was a mark he had passed in his youth, a bit of nostalgia from when he was low-class and a fool. But he'd come plenty far since then, VR teaching him plenty more about human nature then the real-world did. Absolute anonymity does many things to people, most of them bad.

X

Iftur arranged for a magician's association officiant to be present for the demonstration, and requisitioned some captive beastmen for the show.

"…Beastmen are tough rascals who treat humans as nothing more than food. The average adult beastman takes about four veteran knights to beat, if you want no injuries, so you can imagine how hard they are to capture in working condition." Iftur explained candidly, subtly expressing that Zaug had better be serious about the whole thing. They wouldn't want to waste the beastmen after-all.

 _What should I use? Some sort of AoE attack would be best, I suppose_.

Zaug hesitated for half a minute, everyone's eyes drilling into him the whole time. Including the beastmen, in their cage. There were four of them, and they looked so real. He would be ending their lives for his own purposes, in cold blood.

No, he wouldn't do that. Zaug stretched out his left palm towards the victims, **"Chaos."** He'd let them kill each other.

The eyes of three of the beastmen clouded over and they paused for a second. Then, all hell broke loose inside the metal bars of the cage.

Viciously, like animals they halfway were, they attacked each other. The last sane one, the one who had resisted the spell, screamed in terror as he recognized the madness in the eyes of the others. But not for long. Soon his bowels were dug out by the one he had called comrade, friend.

Zaug looked grimly at his handiwork, slightly amazed that he'd gotten three. _At this rate, [Greater Chaos] could get a whole regiment._ But it was all good. He had confirmed the effectiveness of one of his mental interference spells, which was nice, and proven to the blokes around him that he could, indeed, use fifth-tier magic.

Iftur smiled because he knew not what else to do. The sheer horror of what he had witnessed- Not because it was gross to see beastmen rip each other to pieces, it was delightful to behold, but because it would work on him too.

Zaug could turn him into a mindless beast that would tear into everyone he once knew.

"[Chaos]. As you can see, it's a spell that messes with the mind, making one see everything as their enemy." Zaug supplied.

"I've never heard of it before, but it's certainly powerful. However, how can we be sure it is fifth-tier magic? [Charm Species] is fourth-tier, but it could achieve results similar to what you presented." The Magician Guild's representative was skeptical, like a good scientist.

Zaug affected an offended tone, "Then I shall display something more obvious! **Greater Fireball!** " With a flourish of his hand, Zaug sent the enormous and extremely hot orb of fire into the air, the eyes of everyone tracking it until it left their vision.

After a short pause, the magician recovered use of his vocals first, "No incantation for fifth-tier magic? That's preposterous!"

"Perhaps he is a Dragon Lord?" The knight-captain hazarded eventually.

Zaug controlled his features, desperately hiding the fact that he had no idea what a Dragon Lord was.

"So why have you come here today, to make fools of us?" The magician demanded sternly.

Zaug drew himself up, adopting the stance for a speech, "Quite contrarily, I think that the Theocracy is in the best position to help me, or should I say, for me to help you. The Slane Theocracy's well-intentioned behavior and stolid defense of humanity is broadly understood. It is my wish to assist in this grand mission, to overcome the many threats, to crush those who would eat us, and to guide the human race itself to a more perfect union!"

 _How's that? Somehow I managed such embarrassing lines, if only a few._

The knights' eyes gleamed, awed by the conviction in Zaug words. The priest who attended muttered something that most nearly approximated 'amen', and Iftur nodded strongly.

Yes, this was a man they could rely on, a man who had stepped into the realm of heroes. A veritable bastion of humanity who had pledged himself to the Theocracy.

"We have no reason to doubt your magic ability, Zaug-sama. But I must ask, why the heavy armor and sword?" The old priest asked in his aging, gravelly, voice.

Zaug's smile was a mixture of wry and proud, "My occupation is not magician. It is magic swordsman." He paused for dramatic effect, "Which means that my strength with a sword is nearly equal to my strength as a magic caster."

"…T-Th-That… ah, I give up, Zaug-dono here has my commendations. I'm done." The magician shook his head and washed his hands of the entire affair, not able to come up with another response, and unwilling to have none.

"Mine also. I would hire you, but I'm sure you'll get a post much higher than mine. If you want, I'll arrange the documentation and a small escort for your journey to the capital. With your qualifications, I'm sure the Archbishops will want to meet you." The knight-captain offered.

 _So I've netted a meeting with the most powerful oligarchs on planet whatever-this-is all for the price of two low-class spells. Nice._

Zaug dipped his chin in acknowledgement and respect, "Thank you very much, sir. I'll take you up on that offer."

The man grinned, "Excellent, you can stay at my place while it's all being arranged. I can introduce you to my daughter. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself, I am Sylar Huren Yondark." Finally Zaug took note of the man's appearance; he was around forty, handsome and fit, with blonde hair and blue eyes. His body was hidden by steel armor, whose sheen rivaled Zaug's own.

"Then, Yondark-san, I'll be in your care."

XXX

The Yondarks lived in a massive mansion in the center of town, whose wood-paneled sides were painted a marvelously-maintained white. The windows had glass in them, and the garden, circling the whole house and encased itself by a metal fence, contained a marble gazebo.

The inside was even more impressive, with floors that shown like crystal; and everything metal polished to sparkle. Changeable tapestries graced the walls, and blood-silk banners hung from the high ceiling, which had magnificent paintings upon its surface.

Zaug had seen more impressive in his brother's guildhall, but it hadn't felt so _real_.

Nevertheless, he composed himself, "I'm not exactly genteel, you know. And I have nothing appropriate to wear here. Perhaps you might allow me a spot in your stable?"

"You may not be genteel, but I am. So, as a noble who invited you to my house, wouldn't I lose all my face if I let you sleep in the stable?" Sylar's tone was about a third joking, but he grew more serious as he continued, "Besides, you stepped into the higher echelons of society the moment you learned those spells. And with your manners so far, you won't fall out of them any time soon."

"Your praise is unmerited, Yondark-san."

Sylar smiled lightly, "I'll arrange for some presentable clothes for you, please step this way and let my butler attend to you." He intimated that Zaug should head to a side room, the butler, an average looking man in his early thirties, following closely.

Zaug glanced over his shoulder as he entered the sound-proofed changing room, noting with some amusement that Shizu had followed him in. As for why she hadn't received any attention up 'til now, he attributed it to her [Stalker] and [Assassin] skills.

"Sir, please take off your armor so I can get some measurements."

Zaug devoted his attention to the butler, "Of course." He removed his armor slowly with the butler's help, until he was stripped down to just his boxers. The butler then took out a seamstresses' tape, and wrote down the relevant information before leaving.

Zaug turned to Shizu as the door closed, "Speechless at my ripped body, eh?"

Silence greeted his statement as expected, that is to say 'no reaction', so Zaug examined his looks with a little more seriousness, "In all honesty though, I'm doing pretty good." He mused.

Still no comment from his robotic companion.

"I hope Slane fashion isn't too horrible." He cogitated, before realization struck him, "Ah! Shizu, you also will need clothes, yes?"

The droid's face looked minutely more pensive for half a second, "These are fine."

"Even rags from Nazarick are better than dresses from a Theocrat."

She nodded, to Zaug's satisfaction. _Alright, I've gained important information about Ainz's subordinates: They are absolutely devoted._

"Well, you can actually sit down properly in those, and you're not the primary guest, so it'll be fine." His piece said, Zaug began cleaning up his boots - restoring their brilliant gleam.

Although Zaug worked quickly, he did not complete his endeavor before the butler returned with his clothing. The man frowned ever so slightly when he saw Zaug bent over, cleaning his own armor.

"We have maids you know, and to let you do this yourself is dereliction of duty."

"Would you not bother about it if I said I can't trust you with my armor? It's worth quite a bit." Zaug adopted a hostile stance, intending that the butler should drop the point.

"In that case, why isn't your own maid doing it?" The butler turned to Shizu accusingly, his eyes like knives.

Zaug's expression remained carefully neutral, though he was surprised that the Pleiades member was spotted, "She's not _my_ maid. Though I am surprised you noticed her."

The butler wore a puzzled expression for half a second, but then made an 'Ah' face and bowed lightly, "There's no need for stealth, Sir Yondark is an above-board man. Though, as to why I noticed her, I suppose that would be my [Talent]."

Zaug finally turned from his armor and stood up, looking the man opposite him over more closely, "So you have a [Talent]. Intriguing." He glanced towards the clothes the other was carrying, "You're quick. May I?"

"Of course," The butler held out the stack of clothing, "Do you require assistance?"

"No, I'm quite alright." The butler made to leave, "Although, I've never worn this sort of clothing before, and I'd hate to put it on wrongly."

A light smile adorned the butler's face, "It would be my pleasure."

XXX

Zaug shaped up pretty well in his newest costume, looking quite military because of the gold-colored epaulettes which graced both shoulders. The primary color was a deep red, the double-breasted buttons were the same color as the epaulettes, and the overcoat draped down to his knees.

The pants matched with the suit, and on his feet were soft-bottomed shoes - for indoor use only. There was no headgear, but Zaug's belt was thick, wide, cumbersome, and extravagant. From this same belt hung a sword nearly as thin as a rapier, with a hilt to match, deadly with both side and point, though it served a primarily ceremonial purpose. It was ensconced in an ornate scabbard that held the blade snugly.

All in all, it made him feel quite official.

"The clothes make the man indeed." He hummed cheerfully, "General Zaug has a nice ring to it, I think. Though I was never much good at chess." Just one more thing his older brother had always beaten him at.

Shizu had deactivated her stealth, and trailed a few feet behind him and to his left, the natural spot for a subordinate. Somewhat ironic, considering he answered, if only in part, to her master.

Zaug followed the leading butler up the stairs to Sir Yondark's study, which smelled richly of its primary occupants: Books.

Sylar looked up as Zaug's entry was announced, smiling when he caught sight of the fellow, "You look remarkably fine, Zaug-san. Does it feel good to wear?"

"Yes, it does, very much so. Thank you for your underserved generosity, Yondark-san." Zaug tilted his body downward slightly in respect.

"Now, now, nobody likes an arrogant man, but I shall feel awkward if such a talented individual as yourself is so polite." Sylar waved off Zaug's ceremony, standing from behind his expansive desk after his completed his statement, "Shall we meet the family?"

Zaug nodded, allowing Sylar to lead him now as the butler closed the door behind them.

The house was enormous, so it came as no surprise to Zaug that they walked for a good two minutes before they arrived at their destination: The Library. Library was actually a misleading term, as it contained no books, but instead functioned as the meeting area for small groups and family. Nobility had to have a separate room for everything it seemed. Zaug couldn't understand why they didn't simply use the Hall or one of the sleeping rooms, but all that was irrelevant in the end.

The room itself had a tasteful arrangement of paintings, soft chairs, and flower vases. However, the eyes were naturally drawn away from these inanimate things to the two living preoccupants.

The girl, Zaug presumed she was Yondark's daughter, was a beauty, with vibrant blood-red hair, blue eyes, and an excellent figure. He wouldn't be surprised if she had a number of suitors. Women of her looks certainly couldn't be come by in Japan.

Her mother looked just the same, though more mature, an inch taller, and possessing violet eyes. In addition, her clothing had a lower neckline, and she wore a feathered hat. Both of them were wearing hooped skirts that looked quite frilly and hot, at least to Zaug.

"Zaug-san, this is my wife Guinevette, and my daughter Piophne." He motioned to each in the order the Player expected, and both curtsied to him in turn, though Guinevette's was a touch shallow, "Dearest, Piophne, this is Zaug, a magic caster of the fifth tier."

Zauberklinge bowed with his right hand over his heart, "How do you do ladies?"

"Quite well, thank you very much." Piophne answered with a practiced smile after recovering from her father's last words. It wasn't everyday one met a fifth-tier magic caster.

"I wasn't aware my husband had such powerful friends, Zaug-san. When did you meet him?" It was ever so slight, but Zaug could detect the hidden barb to Sylar in that question.

 _As expected of the nobility: beating around the bush, practiced compliments, and hidden meanings,_ "We just met today actually, I've just arrived in the Theocracy and got right to kicking up a storm."

"Do tell." Piophne played her role well, any excessive curiosity necessarily disregarded because of her age.

"I came to the town, found out I needed to register, answered the questions, demonstrated my skills, and here I am, thanks to your father's hospitality."

"Father _is_ too trusting. I mean, what if you were an assassin?" She asked playfully.

"I'm afraid I shouldn't have the heart to assassinate you. Instead, I'd sweep you off your feet, and carry you off to my dark castle in the middle of nowhere." Zaug answered with a smirk and a wink.

Piophne evidently needed more practice with flirting, as her face more closely approached the color of her hair as she turned her head away slightly, glancing to the floor.

"Now, now, you mustn't tease her so much, Sir Zaug, she's just a girl." Guinevette skillfully picked up the baton as Sylar secretly grinned to himself.

"I'm afraid she's the only one in this room I should dare to flirt with, so forgive me if I devoted it all to her direction." Zaug quickly fell into his 'flirtatious gentleman' persona, and drew ever closer to the deep end.

"You certainly are quite a fellow, Zaug-san, where did you learn to be so subtle?" Guinevette speedily rejoined, a half-genuine smile gracing her features.

"You know, here and there." He shrugged, breaking off the flirting long before Sir Yondark could find fault.

Guinevette kept her smile as she took the hint and changed the subject, "So, you're my husband's guest here?"

"For now yes, although I shouldn't want to impose too long, and besides, I'm interested in going to the capital."

"So you want government work?" Guinevette inferred.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have come to this country."

"What did you do before, then?"

"I… I was a vampire hunter." Zaug quickly recalled Momon's story and made sure to stick with it, in case some investigation was done.

"How fearsome, was it dangerous?"

"She was stronger than I. The vampire I mean." In two senses it was true, he was two levels lower, and he stood no chance without his spit-in-the-face-game-breaking world-class item.

A single eye opened a few millimeters on Guinevette's face, "Stronger than you? I pity the ones it chose to attack."

"Not much of that going on, we had her on the run for the most part."

"A group of vampire hunters? Who were the others?" A not-so-subtle attempt to discover more about his background popped up, but Zaug didn't show his knowledge of this.

"A bunch of fools who left me for dead…" He sighed a long, tired, sigh, "It's all in the past now, and I hope to achieve a high enough rank to make a difference here." He dodged masterfully, all while keeping to the script.

"What kind of a difference?"

It was an innocent question, but blasted hard for him. Zaug didn't show his panic outwardly, but inwardly he was struggling to come up with something. He just didn't know much about this world yet. After a couple second of furious thinking, it came to him, "Like the beastman problem for instance, I wouldn't mind teaching those fellows a lesson."

"It would be a favor to us all. But there, we've gone on talking and you haven't introduced your friend."

Wry realization struck Zaug as he glanced at Shizu, who was still standing behind him, "Ah, this is my comrade in charge of the treasury, Shizu."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Shizu," Piophne curtsied elegantly and with a polite smile.

Guinevette displayed no such courtesy, instead getting to the heart of the matter. "Didn't the servants provide clothes for you?" Her tone didn't show much, but it was obvious enough that she considered Shizu's current gear to be distasteful.

Shizu shook her head no, to the consternation of her hostess, "Why those-!"

"She didn't want them." Zaug broke in, preferring to throw Shizu under the bus rather than get some innocent worker fired.

The red-head quickly calmed down, mortified, "Well, in that case, why didn't she?"

"I prefer this." Shizu replied in her usual monotone, causing Guinevette to narrow a single eye by a tiny margin.

The lady flared her nostrils most minutely and lifted her chin half an inch, "No taste in clothing I see. Well, you _are_ adventurers. I should be more surprised that Zaug-san here isn't waltzing around in studded leather."

Zaug chuckled somewhat awkwardly, "I guess so, huh. Most adventurers are rather rough folk."

"If they weren't, they'd find honest employment." Sylar tossed in.

"Eh, the Adventurers Guild makes quite certain that no requests of unsavory nature are accepted by members." Zaug offered half-heartedly. Or perhaps it was two-thirds-heartedly? That didn't sound right.

"No need to defend them just because you once joined, you're part of the Slane Theocracy now. Well on your way to a high position." Yondark replied disapprovingly.

"It's important to remember our humble roots, so that we grow not arrogant in the present." Zaug quoted automatically, reciting a code that had been drilled into him.

"Indeed?" Guinevette asked, not really curious, just a platitude. "Shall we head out to the garden? The weather is terrific."

"You'll find no argument here." Zaug responded congenially.

XXX

"You're certain of this?" The speaker's face was concealed by shadow, but it was clear that on the rest of their body they wore white robes with black and gold designs covering much of its surface. In his, male based on the voice, gloved hands a long wooden staff was held, its tip also hidden in darkness.

"82.1% sure, your grace," The other, a young female, replied. She had long blue hair that cascaded in two thick braids to her knees, and a slim figure, though not without endowment. Upon her hat sat an enormous black witch's hat, while the rest of her outfit was extremely revealing. Her lace panties were halfway showing and their white covering did little more than the panties themselves to cover her legs. On one leg she wore a white legging with gold embroidery that reached up to her thigh, and on the other she had a long blue sock that was not entirely put on. The top portion of her chest, her shoulders, and her belly button, were not covered by the pink cloak she wore, which reached down to her ankles.

"A Player, two of them, does not bode well. If your prediction is accurate, Astrologer."

"I merely report what I see~."

The man's expression remained hidden, but his tone was a shade harder when he spoke again, "You've been wrong before."

The girl's amber eyes went to the ground like lightning, "Uh-huh."

"You've failed to alert us of threats before."

"Uh-huh."

"And you still take your role lightly."

"Uh-huh."

"Well stop. Hone your abilities and devote your attention to powerful threats, or this country will cease to exist."

"Uh-huh."

"And stop Uh-huhing. Now begone, I must report this fresh revelation to the others."

"Uh-huh."

The male brought his free hand up to his face and rubbed it as his guest exited the room. Finally, he spoke up tiredly once he was sure he was alone, "And these misfits are the hope of humanity? Why can't someone else be their superior." It wasn't a question, because he knew the answer already. It was merely an expression of how sick he was of it at the moment.

"And moreover, why did I have to deal with her directly? Shouldn't the captain be handling this and then reporting it to me? Whatever." The captain had plenty on his hands anyway, what with overseeing the revival of certain persons and organizing a second sortie.

In addition, more was being added to the workloads of everyone after the consecutive disasters.

"And if she's right, they are absolutely connected. Players, how I hate them." He looked up, "Oh Great God of Death, lend me strength and fortitude, so that I might deal out your deadly wrath against those who do evil!"

With this final prayer, he left the expansive room while his shout still echoed, to meet with his peers.

 **Authors Note: And that's a wrap. While I tried to be fairly mysterious, I'm pretty sure 100% of you understood what was going on at the end. I'm just no good at secrets.**

 **Please leave me a few of your thoughts, or just one if that's your thing, on your way out, and look forward to the fourth installment.**

 **Also, I hoped you like the OC names. They're just from the top of my head.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's evident I don't own Overlord, because it wouldn't be half as good if I did.**

 **Chapter 4**

"You know, Zaug-san, I didn't think you were such a refined man when I first saw you." Sylar admitted honestly as they exited the house, the ladies remaining for a few minutes to change into something more reasonable for the outdoors.

"When you first saw me, I wasn't." Zaug laughed when he saw the knight's puzzled expression, saying quietly, though with unconcealed mirth, "Then I saw your wife and daughter, and I instantly became a respectable fellow."

Sylar sighed, he was quickly becoming used to Zaug's openly flirtatious demeanor, "You shouldn't lie, Zaug-san, I had ample enough conversation with you before you saw them to know that that is untrue."

Zaug walked out in front of his companion, turning around and spreading his arms wide, "I'm a man of many tricks, a magician, you know, would it be any surprise if I spied on them long before I entered the country?" Deep inside, Zaug's purpose for this question was as twisted as it was sad. He desperately wanted Sylar to not trust him, to hate him and reject him, to make him feel unwelcome, to call down the army on him.

Why? Because Zauberklinge didn't want to love the people of the Theocracy, he knew Ainz wouldn't stand for a human-supremacist country. And so he wanted to have reason to detest the country and everyone who lived there. Or at least, reason to consider them his enemy.

Sylar's expression darkened for a brief moment, "I think not. You wouldn't joke of such things if you could, and besides, I've never heard of such a spell."

 _Seriously!? These must be backwards people indeed to not know of spells of that sort._ Still, Zaug counted it as a win; he had learned that scrying magic was no common thing, even in the strongest human country.

"But you know, I shan't make any real moves on your wife, she's married." Zaug assured his host.

"This isn't exactly a comfortable topic, but for the record, I believe you."

As the two walked about awkwardly in the elaborate Yondark garden, Zaug espied a nice cottage about five-hundred meters away from the back of the house, enclosed within the fence that surrounded the estate.

"Who lives there?" He asked harmlessly, trying to change the mood.

Sylar opened his mouth to speak, then closed, opened, closed, and finally he talked, "That's not a comfortable topic either."

"You must think very ill of me and my big mouth. Sorry." He apologized genuinely, though his dark side was seething at this humble action. The third part of him was coming up with ideas as to what exactly the house contained. Was it a mistress? A cursed sword that drove his son or father mad? Or was it, perhaps, a child from a night of foolishness?

"You're a talker and a flirt, I can see that, but you're also brave and honorable." Sylar commented with a small smile.

Zaug wasn't arrogant; his constant inferiority to his older brother had seen to that, so he felt quite awkward, "I wouldn't say that. Besides, you have absolutely no reason to believe I'm brave." He stopped, his normally flowing mouth seeming quite leaden, "Or honorable for that matter."

"There are deeper qualities visible than what a man says. The way he holds himself, the way he shows his power, the way he says sorry," Sylar grinned broadly, "And the way he reacts when complemented for something he wasn't intentionally showing off."

Zaug made a face, "This all was a test, wasn't it?"

"Everything is a test, always, everywhere."

"Words I shan't forget, Yondark-shishou." He made an exaggerated motion of accepting guidance from a master as he finished.

Sylar shook his head, "And now you mock me. You get comfortable awfully quickly, stinky foreigner!" But from his tone, it was clear the knight-captain wasn't serious.

"I'm so hurt. To think this is how you really felt about me… I feel like I've been stabbed in the gut." He grabbed his stomach and made a faux pained expression.

Sylar straightened his handsome face after allowing himself a laugh, "In all seriousness though, you should be careful. There are many who feel that way."

"They dare?" Zaug demanded imperiously. After a moment, he continued calmly, "I realize that. I'm very fortunate to have met a man like you and enjoyed your hospitality. Thank you."

"Don't mention it… Ah! There are the ladies, shall we?"

"Absolutely."

The two red-heads were wearing sundresses that reached down to two inches above the ankle, Piophne in light blue, and her mother in a deep maroon. The two also each carried a white parasol. It appeared they hadn't convinced the third woman to change her garments, as Shizu was still wearing her camo -which still didn't stink, because droids don't sweat.

Zaug and Sylar walked eagerly over, both appreciating the finer scenery the fairer sex presented.

"And here I thought you ladies couldn't look any better." Zaug complemented smoothly as they entered a comfortable range for conversation.

Guinevette, evidently pleased by the attention, smiled back, but Piophne reacted differently. Initially she blushed and began to smile, but then she seemed to catch herself and turned her nose up and to the side.

Zaug smiled at this childish behavior, either she was angry at herself for falling prey to his flirting or… _Or her mother put her up to this. Play hard to get and all that, but if that's the case, she really needs some practice._

Not that he minded giving her such practice.

He let his gaze linger a little longer on Piophne, but not so long as to be a social faux pass, before he again spoke, "Miss Piophne especially, words cannot express my admiration for you."

Her face snapped back to him as her over-blooded brain formulated a reply, "In that case, you should respect my wishes when I say I wish you wouldn't speak to me."

 _Playing VERY hard to get,_ He smiled, his newfound demonic zeal not allowing him to admit defeat, "I am sorry you feel that way, but oh well, there are others." If he just kept complimenting and groveling to her, then it wouldn't be very satisfying if she deigned to give him attention every once in a while.

No, he'd inflated her perception of his opinion of her, he'd made her like the feeling of being complimented, and now she'd willingly turned it aside. By using a hurt tone of voice, he'd made the innocent girl feel guilty, along with her desire for attention, she'd inevitably…

"I… I didn't really feel that way, Zaug-san. Please don't take it to heart."

"Then you're sorry?" He asked hopefully.

"I am. Sorry, Zaug-san," She apologized honestly, to the said infiltrator's glee. It was an excellent sign. An undoubtedly spoiled girl like her wouldn't have extensive experience apologizing, so this meant she cared.

Zaug let his honest delight, though his companions mistook the reason for it, show plainly on his visage before and as he spoke, "I am glad. I should hate to lose the chance to talk to the most interesting of my acquaintances in the Theocracy." He paused for a second, his own words rolling around in his skull, "No insult intended for either Madam or Sir." He amended quickly.

"None taken, in fact, I'd be looking at you strangely if you found me more interesting than Piophne." Sylar joked good-naturedly.

"I'd look at _myself_ strangely if I found you more interesting." Zaug returned, equally mirthful.

Guinevette remained silent. Whether she was miffed or pleased, Zaug couldn't tell for the life of him.

"So, do you get many invitations to events, Piophne?" It was a platitude, just a question to keep the ball rolling, but the answer to his question surprised Zaug.

"No, Piophne isn't actually eligible to receive invitations for entertainment, she's yet to debut." Guinevette was the one to drop the bomb on him, and suddenly it all started to make sense to Zaug.

 _She's ridiculously sheltered, she's probably never even exchanged a sentence with any man but her father, and her parents haven't deigned to teach her of the woeful realities of life._ It was somewhat natural, he admitted, keeping the only daughter and heiress safe at home, but it hadn't done her many favors.

Further realization hit him in another second, prompting his ever-moving tongue to wag, "If she's yet to debut, why was I lucky enough to make her acquaintance?"

"You're a personal guest, and we couldn't exactly ask her to keep to her room. She was very excited when she heard a fifth-tier magic caster was visiting." Sylar explained, very reasonable in his tone.

Ultimately, Zaug decided not to pursue the matter beyond that, "In any case, I'm delighted to have met such a beautiful and elegant young woman." He directed his statement entirely towards Piophne.

"And I am very happy to have met you, Sir Zaug." She smiled winningly, right into his face, causing the black-haired swordsman to become lost in her face for just an instant before he recovered himself.

"… And let's not forget how lucky I've been to attract your attention, Sir Yondark. If I succeed in gaining a position, no matter how high or low, I shan't forget the kindness you showed to the foolish wandering knave who calls himself Zaug." It didn't matter if that was the whole point of showering favor on him to Zaug; he just felt that it was the right thing. Give and take, fair's fair, all that good stuff, long story short, even if a favor is given only to be repaid, it should still be repaid, in Zaug's opinion.

"On that note, I don't think you'll be a wandering fool for long. I've already started making the arrangements, and if all goes well, you'll be meeting at least one Archbishop inside a month."

"All in the time it took me to get dressed?" Zaug inquired incredulously, "Impressive."

Sylar made a proud expression, "Obviously, this is me we're talking about."

All four of them, Shizu rendered a mere decoration by her own silent personality, laughed.

XX

After a pleasant evening meal, in which he'd managed to talk about everything and nothing at the same time, Zaug was standing in his room, looking out his window. Well, he corrected himself, the Yondarks' window in the room they had lent him.

Frankly, the day had been incredibly long for him, with far more occurring than he'd been prepared for. But he'd adapted, as he always did, and weaseled his way into a far better position than he'd dreamed.

The Yondarks were incredibly nice, and he understood that. By all rights, nobles like them should hate some blasted foreigner like himself kicking down the doors and demanding a high position. Was everyone like this?

He didn't delude himself. To find company as pleasant and friendly would be difficult, even at his brother's place.

No. Soon he'd be leaving this delectable dream behind, and step into the dangerous world of the capital. Many would resent him if he did manage to get an office, and many would want to rid the land of him either way.

Somehow he doubted that fifth-tier magicians were the highest the Theocracy had to offer. But then, it wouldn't be a surprise if they were either. As Ainz had told him, the Sunlight Scripture's leader had believed the level 50 - or thereabouts - Dominion Authority to be second place to God himself.

Utter nonsense, obviously.

On the bright side, if they'd managed to keep high ranking magic casters from a group of spies on _their own_ side, there probably wouldn't be a lot.

His eyes wandered as he stepped closer to the window, and he caught sight of a cottage in the corner of his eye.

" _That's not a comfortable topic either."_ He recalled Sylar's description of the place, and began to feel some measure of curiosity.

This curiosity only intensified when the door to the place opened, light from inside illuminating the darkening night, and a humanoid figure stepped out cautiously. At least, it seemed cautious to Zaug, but he was awfully far away.

 _Ah, screw it_ Zaug decided, opening his window quietly and leaping down to the ground softly from his place of the second floor.

" **Greater Invisibility."** He invoked under his breath as he stalked over, drawing closer to the figure, who had a drab grey cloak draped around their frame.

The figure, male by all current evidence, wore boots, and something like a fedora with a trimmed brim which was pushed down quite low, but beyond that his clothes were hidden by the cloak he wore. The man was stalking carefully, just like the demon who followed him, and seemed to be headed towards the fence.

But when he reached the fence, he did not cross it as expected, but instead slinked alongside it, eventually turning off and entering the gazebo.

The gazebo which contained someone Zaug recognized: Piophne.

"You came." She breathed quietly, glancing over her shoulders and making sure she wasn't visible from the house.

"Did you bring it?" The man asked, his voice a low, whispery, baritone.

Piophne nodded, taking out something from her belly. Zaug couldn't tell what it was, it being wrapped in a dark cloth, but suffice to say, it was small enough to fit under Piophne's night-cloak without notice.

"With this, I'll be able to escape to the Kingdom. You should go; your father would kill you, or me, if he caught us together."

"He's your father too." The girl insisted petulantly.

The male winced, "Hush. Now then, I must go before dawn."

Piophne's face fell, "I wish you could meet father's guest, he's very nice."

"We both know that's impossible. Especially if he's nice." A wee bit of frustration was apparent in his tone, but he shook it off and continued, "I'll send letters if I can. Try to keep it a secret where I'm headed, at least for a few days."

She nodded and the man smiled. Whether it was a creepy smile or a happy one Zaug couldn't tell, but it was a smile.

"I love you, sister. Farewell." Without further adieu, the brother left, heading back to the fence.

Zaug pondered what had just transpired for a few moments, eventually hitting upon the truth. The man was Piophne's half-brother, a half-breed. Probably the child of some slave Sylar had a dalliance with once upon a time.

To Zaug, the most surprising thing was that the boy lived on the estate, only a few hundred feet away from the manor. It certainly wasn't the most brilliant way to avoid scandal. Or was it?

 _By keeping the boy ridiculously close, it gives credence if Sylar just says the boy ain't his, with the argument no one would keep their half-heteromorphic bastard so close to home._

Kind of stupid, but it could work.

He turned his attention back to the redhead standing in front of him. He didn't miss the long tear that exited her right eye, or her forlorn expression.

He willed his stealth away after circling around her, coming up just behind her before he spoke softly, "Are you sure you want him to go?"

Instantly startled out of her reverie, the young heiress turned to Zaug, "Z-Zaug-san?!" Initially, she was nearly screaming, but she remembered the circumstances and lowered her voice.

"What are you doing here? Who are you talking about?"

"Don't play innocent with me, dear, or I'll be tempted to claim your innocence."

She sagged her shoulders in defeat, "You wouldn't really, would you?"

"Of course not. But frankly, I'm interested in this whole brother business." Noticing her expression, he added, "But if you don't want to talk about it, I'll just sneak back the way I came. Without telling anyone about what I saw."

"You saw everything?" She asked timidly.

"Front to back." Zaug shrugged.

"Well forget I said anything about you!"

 _What the heck?_

"Ahhhh…" Zaug realized it after a few seconds, "About me being nice." He smiled at her.

In the darkness, he couldn't tell if Piophne was blushing, but she _did_ turn around, "T-That's right." She confirmed hesitantly, "And I'm telling you to forget about it." She finished, trying to add sternness to her tone, but failing miserably.

Zaug adopted a tone that would be appropriate for some kind of Shakespearian play, airy and romantic, "My mind may forget, but my heart will be forever touched by your words."

"…How can you even say lines like that?"

 _She's a bit different without her mother and father hanging around, isn't she?_ "If a man does not say how he feels, how can a woman know how he feels?" He smiled gently as she turned back around.

"I really wish you'd stop. I know you don't feel anything for me."

Zaug frowned, perhaps he should have returned quietly to his room, "And if I did, if I was serious?"

"But you're _not_!" She insisted, "I know you're faking it, even if father can't seem to tell. He's all too happy to marry his daughter off to a man like you."

"You think that's why I'm here?" He was actually slightly hurt.

"Isn't it? Father _clearly_ approves of you, and you haven't stopped paying attention to me since we met. I think it's obvious enough why you're here."

"You think I'm a suitor." Zaug concluded.

"Aren't you?" The noblewoman, girl really, demanded.

"I flirt with you because I find you attractive and I find flirting fun, but if I was going, or trying, to marry you, I'd have announced my intention to do so. My failure to do that implies I'm not a suitor, making your assumption that I am one misguided." Zaug, his temper flaring at her misinterpretation of his intentions, explained somewhat angrily.

Piophne, incensed, blurted, "Then why for the love of the God of Earth did he invite you here?"

"I know not. Perhaps he would prefer for us to be wed, but I'm here because your father has promised to help me get an official, or clandestine, position from the Archbishops."

"So… all this time you've been flattering me just because you find it amusing?" As realization sunk in it was Piophne's turn to be hurt, and she spoke in a suitable tone.

"I," He began, not finding the words, and not wanting the girl to cry, "I," He still didn't have it, but he couldn't allow himself to be mute, "That's right. I'm a right bastard I suppose, and you have every right to be angry." That wasn't quite what he wanted to say… "I just figured nobility would be used to meaningless flirting." And that hadn't come out right either. He'd sounded much too derogatory when using the n-word.

"Ah, screw it. I'm not cut out for this. I'm a fraud, through and through. I won't bother you or your family anymore." Zaug ran his hands through his hair, turning away to leave. Even if it was just running away, he didn't have a better solution.

He didn't get far before Piophne called out to him, "Wait! Wait, Zaug."

 _No honorific? Strange._

He stopped in his stride, though he didn't turn around, before asking, "What?"

"You're no more of a fraud than I am."

How he wanted to prove her wrong, to tell her that everything about him was fake, even right up to his race. He wasn't human. He was a spy. And he was starting to detest it.

"You're my father's guest. Besides, if you leave alone, what about your friend?"

"I don't know. I guess I could fly away to the sea, get on or build a boat, and sail to some other land."

"And what about the Theocracy, the Beastmen, unifying the human nations?" She pressed.

He turned around, _It's all fake! I'm a demon in human form, sent to find out about your country's pathetic Scriptures._ But no, he'd given his word to Ainz, and he couldn't take it back, even if he wanted to.

So, he made the logical choice. He folded. "You're right. I was being rash," He looked her in the eye, "Thanks. I've learned something tonight."

"And what's that?"

He grinned, "If a man doesn't have any mystery, who'd glance at him twice? I'll hang onto that secret."

"Isn't that a bit too obvious, telling me that you're keeping secrets so that I'll be interested in you."

Hook, line, and sinker, "I never said that. But you seem to be interested enough in me to make such a conclusion. What am I to think?" It wasn't even that strong of a case, but it was enough to get what he wanted: A blush.

"Goodnight, Zaug-san." Piophne huffed, leaving without care that she might be seen from the house.

"Goodnight, my dear~." Zaug called after her cheerfully, satisfied that he hadn't lost anything that night, but instead gained something. He'd gained a greater understanding of just how fake everyone was.

"A mask to wear without a care. A secret to hide, none can abide. A lie to tell, don't come out of your shell. A lie to hear, don't give in to your fear."

The dark-haired demon nodded, gave a final glance to the retreating figure of Piophne, and retired to his bed.

 **XXX**

Zaug spent a less eventful thirteen days - no nighttime running away sessions - with the Yondarks before it came time for him to go. And quite honestly, he was glad to go. He'd started feeling awfully useless about halfway through the second day, when realization had struck him that he was kind of a NEET.

After a long debate with Sylar he'd weaseled his way out of accepting any horses, and now stood ready to go.

Clad in the steel outfit he'd first met Sir Yondark in, Zaug bid the family, and servants, farewell, "I shan't forget the time I've spent here, or the lessons it's taught me, _you've_ taught me. I wish you all the best fortune, but I have no right to ask the same. I set out now on the greatest adventure of my life, greater than hunting vampires and being left for dead. I set out today in a quest for steady employment."

Chuckles greeted that, as planned, and Zaug smiled himself.

"Sylar," He took the man's hand, "Thanks." A nod was all he got. A nod was all he needed.

"Guinevette, thank you for looking past my clumsiness and ill-mannered nature, and for being an excellent hostess," He bowed lightly, right hand over his shoulder.

"And Piophne, who brightened my day with your mere presence, I've made a little something for you." He brought out the object he'd referred to, a hand-carved figure of her brother, in his appearance on the night he'd left. It'd been fairly simple to carve, seeing as most of the facial, and bodily, features and been hidden by his garb.

Her mouth opened for a few seconds as she hesitated, "It's very well made." She finally complimented.

Zaug smirked at her, "I bet you wished it was of me, right?" After taking in her hilarious attempt to hide her outrage -she actually succeeded pretty well-, he continued quietly, "I figured this would please you more than anything else I could carve."

"Thank you."

Zaug tipped his hat, having worn it just for this, and left, Shizu following after.

After clearing the line of sight of the town, Zaug removed his hat and placed it back in storage, "Now it's just you and me, wandering free, down to th'ole capital, without much hope at all!"

He continued humming and rhyming aimlessly as they continued south for days, sustained only by items that created bland bread that made Zaug want to run back the other way.

He'd started to envy the endless stamina and no-need-to-eat nature of Ainz by the time the high walls and brilliant steeples of the capital came into view.

But it was all worth it, every minute, just for a glimpse of the City of Priests.

The city was not only beautiful; it was a fortress of monstrous degree. Four layers of fortifications, each taller than the other as one went inward, protected the very center. The city was a perfect square, with three gates toward each of the cardinal directions on the outside layer. Towers stood imposingly at both ends of each gate and at every corner of the walls, totaling twenty-eight towers on the outermost wall.

The sight was grand, and Zaug's poetic spirit was stirred, after spending rather more than a minute in thought, he spoke his mind,

"High the towers were wrought,

The invaders they came for naught,

Weapons they didst bring,

But the defenders did but sing,

'Our walls shall last for weeks,

We have scores of ducks and leeks,

You came in vain to beleaguer,

Your efforts were pitifully meager.'

The rams and ladders fell,

A bleak story they do tell,

Of man and beast defeated,

Their morale completely depleted."

To Zaug, the poem expressed in words what the walls did in intimidation. A promise of mockery and defeat for anyone who dared to set their face against this place. A stalwart defense that represented the Theocracy, tall and rigid, four layers deep.

Zaug continued to walk forward, his directions and letters of recommendation contained within his sturdy armor when not in use. They passed through the first two gates without any trouble whatsoever, the letter of recommendation being quite enough.

At the third, the guard called over a buddy and had him lead them to a guest house. A sort of waiting post for prospective officials, it all seemed very organized.

 _As if they get applicants with a recommendation all the time. The guy didn't even read mine properly, just taking down the recommender._

It boded poorly, and reeked of far too accustomed workers, a sort of lazy corruption, preventing good men with real skills from getting in without a bribe. Perhaps he should have forced the fellow to read the letter?

Risky. But if fifth-tier magic casters were really in such short supply, an infraction like that might be forgiven. But Zaug preferred being polite and reasonable when possible, so he merely quietly waited in the guest zone, filling out a couple forms in the meantime, until he was summoned two days later.

After following the courier for a while, Zaug came to the grand building in which the interviews were conducted. Stained glass windows, high ceilings, and expensive carpets all lent to the atmosphere.

"The Archbishops of Water and Death will see you now, Zaug-sama." The usher informed him.

Zaug left the luxurious antechamber in which he'd spent the last two hours with relief and a small bit of trepidation. He was about to meet two of the six leaders of the strongest human nation, after-all. To go forth without any feelings of nervousness would be strange, an indication of stupidity rather than strength.

Zaug passed through the doors, twenty-foot high things that seemed to open all of their own. The interior was no different, it was all designed to awe, to impress upon the visitors the great wealth and power of the ones who lay within.

It was certainly impressive, but Zaug calmed himself with memories of his brother's Guildhall and its splendor.

Shizu hadn't been summoned, so it was alone that he sedately walked the seventy-five meters across red carpet to come within a speaking distance of the two Archbishops.

Zaug did not bow to one knee as custom dictated, instead merely inclining the upper half of his body lightly and dipping his chin, "Archbishops, it is an honor."

"Strange that you do not kneel, what is your name and station?" The one on the right, an old man dressed in blue and white robes, the unclosed white over the blue, partially covered by a cape-like thing that circled his entire body from his neck to his elbows, asked. He wore the traditional Archbishop's hat of the Theocracy. To describe the hat, one from Zaug's world would say, 'A Catholic bishop's hat, blue with a gold stripe down the middle and a gold rim.'

"Zaug, fifth-tier magic caster, here to find employment in the service of the Theocracy under the recommendation of Sir Sylar Huren Yondark."

The old man's habitually narrowed eyes widened nearly to their natural breadth, "Fifth-tier? Certainly extraordinary. And yet soldiers need more than just power, they must also know their social betters." The Archbishop of Water unleashed a not-so-subtle barb at Zaug's obvious lack of respect.

Zaug grew a feral grin, the man had walked right into this, "And so I must assume you are not a soldier."

Water saw red, "Insolent rascal, do you think that I alone could not order your complete obliteration?"

"You may do so now if you so wish. I only wonder how high the damages to your lovely building here will be."

"Did you request this audience merely to satisfy some desperate need to die as a treasonous lout?"

"Did you grant this audience without considering the fact that some men have pride enough to insult those who insult them? I gave you a bow; you gave me no such consideration. As I am not yet in your employ, I see no reason to answer your demands to kneel." Zaug shot back hotly, his new racial anger and overweening pride refusing to allow the theocrat satisfaction.

"You are a citizen of the Slane Theocracy, and that is reason enough!"

Ah, yes, he had gone through some farce and become a nominal citizen, hadn't he?

Zaug spared a glance to the Archbishop's younger peer, noting the ill-concealed mirth written onto his features. But instead of commenting, he turned back to Water, "I am a citizen indeed. In that case, I suppose I've been rude. I should have calmly declined to kneel rather than engage you in a demeaning debate."

Zaug's nonplussed statement did nothing to lessen the anger of Water, who turned away in a huff, "I refuse to lower myself to this level any longer, and I do formally reject the notion that Zaug should receive any official post." He declared loudly, continuing in a whisper to Death, "I leave the rest in your hands, you're used to dealing with unruly fellows."

The Archbishop of Death, in identical gear besides the color of his cape (his being black), nodded and allowed Water to leave before speaking, "You really laid it on thick, you know. He's used to everyone bowing and scraping and kissing the ground he's walked on."

It was spoken in a friendly way, so that Zaug, who was now defined in the Bishops' minds as hating authority, would feel more at ease. At least this was the impression Zaug received. He seriously doubted Death was any less used to being sucked up to than Water.

Still, let the codgers think their plan was fruiting; it lulled the enemy to sleep when their plans worked, "Did I? I guess he just rubbed me the wrong way."

Death wore a friendly smile as he descended from his position a few steps above Zaug, "Ah, well, he's not a bad guy though, just somewhat conceited. I'm Vladimov, Archbishop of Death."

"Ah," Zaug paused as if surprised, "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."

Vladimov approached congenially, slinging his arm over Zaug's armored shoulder, "As you heard him say, you're not approved for _official_ work." He wore a conspiratorial smirk, "But nothing was said about clandestine work, was it?"

Zaug adopted a pensive look, "Like espionage, assassination, and protecting people from the shadows?"

Vladimov seemed delighted by Zaug's understanding, "You catch on quick, good man. So, how about it?"

Zaug acted as if he was internally debating, but there was no way he was letting this go, still, he couldn't let Vlad know that, "How much money will I make?"

"Plenty. You get housing and meals provided, plus extra money for every successful mission."

"And what about my attendant?"

"Just keep him out of the loop, if you know what I mean."

Zaug nodded, "I know what you mean, but isn't that going to be a problem? She's female, by the way."

"What problem?" Vlad acted innocent, knowing full-well that it was better to not admit to the other party that you didn't trust them.

"Don't play dumb, you don't actually trust me to keep my word."

Vladimov scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Ah, yeah, you got me."

"And I'm not going to ever allow you to kill her." Zaug warned darkly.

"Oh, no worries. Here's what we'll do, she'll lodge with you, but you do work stuff alone."

Zaug held back the smirk that threatened to invade his whole body. This guy had just bought the whole ploy and figured he had a hostage, didn't he? Bah. Even if Shizu got killed, which wouldn't happen if he didn't step out of line, Ainz could revive her anyway. Though… hadn't the lich said something about not letting her die? Whatever, not like she would.

Zaug acted hesitant, but finally, reluctantly, held out his hand, "I look forward to working with you."

Vladimov smiled genuinely, "I feel the same. I'll show you to your comrades, and the captain will arrange your living quarters."

XXXXXXXXXX

 **Authors Notes:**

For those who are of the mind that Zaug got hired too easily, I ask you to think.

Kaire, the mind-controller, is unable to either live or die, two or three members of the Black Scripture are _dead_ (currently being revived), Clementine has defected, taking a superb national treasure with her, _and_ the whole Sunlight Scripture has been wiped out by Ainz.

The Theocracy is kind of low on manpower, so the idea of a Black Scripture level dude to fill in the gaps is pretty attractive.

 **Review, but please don't flame. Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything that I do not own. Whoa.**

 **To the dude who said this was wish-fulfillmenty: I sure hope it seems that way, because Zauberklinge is an avatar of wish-fulfillment, just like all game characters we play. Seriously, you don't think a sane-brained person would make an ugly, weak, character when they could make a handsome and strong one? Good madness.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **XXX** —

He had just returned from where the revival meeting was taking place and was beginning to sit down when the door opened with a subtle creak. It was strange, to have a visitor, unless _she_ had come to bother him again.

The door clicked shut and he, the first seat of the Black Scripture, knelt down immediately, "Your Excellency."

His most direct superior, that is, Vladimov, smiled, "Please rise, captain." He motioned to the man beside him who wore shiny steel and had a dueling sword at his waist, "This is Zaug, a new recruit. I can trust you to handle this, yes?"

"Yes, your Excellency." He nodded his handsome, androgynous, face, the one produced by his special mask, in acquiescence.

The Archbishop left immediately, muttering something about lots of work to do, and he and the newcomer, Zaug, were left alone.

He supposed it was his duty as the captain to make sure things went smoothly, so he forwarded a conversation starter, "So, how strong are you?"

Zaug lifted his lips for a moment before speaking, "I'm written down for fifth-tier magic, and I can assure you, I have a measure of skill with my blade."

He frowned slightly; he'd been hoping to get someone a little closer to the level of… No. Expecting a normal person to be on the level of a God-kin was silly. In fact, it was incredible how strong Zaug was, all considered. By the man's own declaration, he should be about the level or somewhat stronger than the Kingdom's Gazef Stronoff.

Now, the captain hadn't fought Stronoff before, but he knew that the man was a legend, to the extent that he was a public measure of strength. People talked in how many Stronoffs you were worth once you got to that level.

As an aside, he himself was worth several Stronoffs.

"Experience?" Somehow, despite his best efforts, the things that were coming from his mouth were all business.

"Enough." The dark-haired rookie shrugged, "Anyone you throw at me, I can win or get away."

Well, to be fair, most of the new members were this way when they joined. It was natural that Zaug would be no different. He would learn humility just the same. In the face of Humanity's Guardian, even if all the other members of the Scripture banded together, they'd likely lose.

Still, he'd only get on the man's bad side if he flat-out denied that, so he just smiled wryly.

Zaug stretched his muscles and cracked his neck as he began to wander around, "Nice place, when do I get my lodgings?"

He glanced over towards the stee…l… "Forgive me for asking, but doesn't that heavy armor inhibit your ability to chant magic?"

"Mine? Nah, I'm fine. I'd show you, but like I said, you've got a nice place here."

Yes, he admitted to himself, he'd rather _not_ find out what fifth-tier magic Zaug could use inside the building. "It's not my place. This is just my office for the Black Scripture."

"So, do I get an office, or is this a captain-only kind of thing?"

"Captain-only," He answered tersely. This conversation was going nowhere, and he still had work to do.

"Good." He had surprised face, Zaug noticed and elaborated, "I don't like being too tied down. If I don't have my own office, I can just claim I've got nowhere to be and bother you, it seems like it'd be fun."

Not that he hadn't dealt with troublemakers before, Clementine came to mind, but he much preferred the serious types, "That won't be necessary, I'm sure the other members would be very happy to be bothered by you, though."

"Eh, that's boring. If they're happy to be bothered, they aren't bothered at all, are they?"

He resisted the urge to rub his temples; this guy was clearly just trying to get a rise out of him, "I'm quite busy right now, Zaug. So while I arrange your accommodations, why don't you go to that room there?" He pointed to the general meeting room, which had a table large enough to seat twenty. It was where members of the Scripture socialized and were briefed.

Zaug shrugged his shoulders uncaringly and went through the door, closing it behind him to the captain's surprise. He'd expected a guy like that to leave the door open just to annoy him.

X

She was used to knowing how strong people were, used to being able to see their strength roiling around them, a rough estimate of their magic ability. Whenever she saw someone new, she reflexively used this ability on them.

But as the door clicked shut behind the black-haired man in clean steel armor who had opened it, she found herself surprised. She, the vaunted Thousand Leagues Astrologer, was unable to read how strong the man was.

With a pensive frown, she attempted a plethora of detection and reading spells. Nothing worked. So the swordsman must be using an item that blocked her.

It wasn't that they didn't exist, but they, to say it gently, annoyed her. She hated her magic being thwarted more than anything. And so, because she wasn't very mature, she ended up hated those who did it.

Translation: Zaug wasn't at the top of her friend's list.

She made a face as the man took in her figure, revealed to a good extent by her fashion choices, unabashedly.

"Just you three?" The walking annoyance asked.

"What, did you see anyone else?" She asked snappishly.

The 6th seat visibly pushed past her attitude and greeted the stranger, the traitor, "I am the sixth seat of the Black Scripture, you are?"

"Zaug, a pleasure," Despite his words, the abrasive fellow crossed his arms, a very rude gesture.

Ever the heroic gentleman whose part he looked, the handsome sixth seat didn't take it to heart or allow anger to fester, "May I ask why you've graced us with your presence, good sir?"

"I've joined the party. Vladimov introduced me to the captain, so I suppose we all should get used to the idea of working together."

This piece of ugly filth who was so weak that he had to hide just how weak he was had made the team? _The_ team!?

Movement caught her eye as the fourth occupant of the room, a tanned hulk with grey hair, finally paid attention to the intruder. Currently dressed in loose-fitting shorts alone, this hairy hulk was none other than the tenth seat of the Black Scripture, the man with the moniker Strongest Human.

"In that case, welcome, Zaug. I look forward to seeing what you can do." The burly guy greeted roughly.

"I'm afraid I'm at a loss…"

"I go by Gurk, Strongest Human."

The sixth seat curled his lips into a smile, his blue eyes going along with the motion, "Adelio. That's the only name I'm permitted to tell anyone. Unlike Gurk here, I've yet to earn a title." His smile turned somewhat self-deprecating, revealing the poorly hid secret he barely tried to keep: He _really_ wanted a title.

Zaug adopted what he must have thought was a winning smile, "Shouldn't yours be Handsomest Human?"

The blonde laughed good-naturedly, "I get that a lot actually."

"Not too surprising." The punk turned to her, "And who's the cutie?"

"Who's a cutie you loose fellow?" She demanded animatedly.

Zaug's expression morphed into a flirtatious grin, "Why you, miss. Don't tell me you've never got a compliment before?"

The only compliments she got were from Vladimov when he was feeling particularly cheerful. Unlike the captain and several others she was a full-time member, which meant she spent all her time on missions or Black Scripture territory. But all that meant nothing, this… well, there weren't any clean words to describe the punk, had no right to speak to her, "Go bother some simpleton; goodness knows you'd only be able to fool idiots with your bad acting."

At length, Zaug returned fire, "So, I can take it you are an idiot if I ever do manage to fool you?"

The gauntlet was thrown, and before _blondie_ could interject, she accepted, "You can take it so."

Zaug grinned victoriously, as if the fool thought he'd actually won, "And now I must ask, one who is on my to-fool list, what shall I call you?"

"Thousand Leagues Astrologer. Remember it."

Zaug nodded duly, helping himself to one of the cushioned chairs, though it did him little good through the armor.

The blonde, - Adelio, was it? - said, "You can take your armor off, Zaug. You're among friends here."

The Astrologer girl, another hard to understand over-privileged lady, snorted, but he ignored her rude gesture to focus on his own.

"I'm still new to the Theocracy, so sorry for being rude." He removed his armor brazenly, putting his cape back on once he was done. In the end, he was left in his underpants, baggy brown things that left everything to the imagination, and blue cape, showing his six-pack and pecs to the world.

But hey, what man playing an RPG with the option to make their character ripped wouldn't take advantage? Certainly not Takashi; and he hadn't had the pleasure of meeting any such weirdos either.

Adelio kept his smile plastered all over his bishounen face as Zaug attempted to cook up a conversation starter.

"… So, what kind of missions do we usually get?" Zaug hazarded with deliberately self-inclusive language.

" _We_ usually get whatever missions we're given." The hard-head with blue hair, Thousand Astrologer or something, answered waspishly.

Zaug lunged beyond her personality easily, "Then what sort of missions can I expect to be getting with you, dear Astrologer?"

She made an incensed expression for a few seconds before calming down and giving him the silent treatment.

Adelio, the title-lover, picked up her slack, "She doesn't get many missions where she leaves the capital, since she specializes in long-range observation and event-prediction skills."

Zaug secretly was worried, but eventually brushed it aside. He was wearing gear that blocked power-reading magics, so even if she'd seen him, he'd be just another dude in shining armor. Assuming she could even use power-gauging magic at all.

Ultimately, unless she'd somehow caught him using transportation magic, he was fine. Still, it was good information.

"Event-prediction skills?"

Adelio smiled wryly, "Actually, I don't know anything more about it beyond that. She hasn't even told us if it's a talent or a spell."

"So, I guess the name makes sense: Thousand Leagues, referring to her far-sight, and Astrologer, referring to her fortune telling." The Astrologer, which he decided to think of as Lea from now on, looked miffed and about ready to decry his calling it 'fortune telling', but she quieted her spirits and continued to ignore him.

"Precisely. It's amazing how the titles a person receives somehow fit like a glove."

"In that case, I look forward to what titles I'll bear." He paused for a just a bit, "Now that we've that behind us, we can get back to the question, what sort of missions do we get?"

Adelio looked hesitant for all of two seconds before he decided that he'd trust who Vladimov did, "Most recently, putting down a Dragon Lord. But that didn't go well at all, some undead killed two of our members and severely injured Kaire-sama. The ones who went never even came close to their objective."

"Horrible. What sort of undead was this?"

"The captain said it looked like a vampire, but that's not possible, no vampire is strong enough to defeat him with that kind of speed. Or probably at all."

Zaug frowned severely, "There are vampires with deeper powers than you know who roam this earth." He cautioned sagely after a moment's thought.

Adelio looked startled, "You know something about this?"

It'd come out anyway if they asked the Yondarks, so Zaug didn't hesitate, "I was a vampire-hunter once, along with a team of others, the creature is, or was - I know not -, stronger than I."

"What happened?"

"I was injured gravely, and the ones who I'd once called comrades left me for dead." He ground his teeth, "It's a bitter memory."

Adelio nodded solemnly in understanding, "I can only imagine. I've never had to deal with betrayal like that."

The brown big guy, Gurk, grunted in disagreement, "Not quite on the level of being left for dead, but betrayal is rampant here too."

Zaug was genuinely surprised at that, asking, "What do you mean?" before he could stop himself.

"Some cruel girl," He actually used a term describing female dogs here, "Stole a National Artifact, killed a Miko Princess, and who knows how many others, before running away, leaving death and despair in her twisted wake." He looked Zaug in the eye, "Did I mention? She used to be a member, and has a brother still with us."

Zaug knew not who these Miko Princesses were, but he gleaned that they were figures of importance. But rather than ponder, he kept the lips moving, "That's terrible. From the way you speak I assume she hasn't been caught?"

Gurk's expression turned feral, "After a manner, she has. We've got her body, though how she died, or rather, who killed her, is a mystery. Half the bones in her body were crushed, and the experts say it looks like she was hugged to death."

"This bone crusher must have been strong, are there no leads at all?" Unaware of the true identity of the 'bone crusher', Zaug continued curiously.

"Two Skeletal Dragons' corpses were nearby, but that mangy dog was plenty strong enough to take on that amount of opposition."

Zaug had the good grace to look slightly afraid, though his intrigued expression kind of ruined it, at the mention of Skeletal Dragons, low-tier undead with ridiculously overpowered magic nullification: Up to the sixth tier.

Despite its weakness, Gurk noticed his ploy— and laughed heartily, "For a magician like you, I suppose that would be a challenge! But the doggie's a warrior, no nullification there."

Initially perceiving Gurk as the silent-strongman type, Zaug was somewhat flummoxed by the man's talkativeness, but this was a rare opportunity to measure power-levels, so he wasn't complaining. From Gurk's descriptions, this woman, a member of the strongest New World fighting force he knew of, would have been easily able to handle two Skeletal Dragons. He assumed, correctly, that these Skeletal Dragons and the ones from Yggdrasil were the same.

He now knew objectively that he, Zauberklinge, was beyond powerful here. At least from what he'd gleaned, even Dragon Lords weren't level 100-class, and they were the strongest things around.

"How strong was she?"

"At least as strong as Gazef Stronoff, the strongest public figure within many hundreds of leagues."

Wasn't this Gazef character from the Kingdom? He could ask Ainz about it later. In the interests of cooperation and threat-level assessment, he would definitely investigate thoroughly.

"Strong then. I should have liked to test my mettle against her."

Gurk chuckled throatily, "You may well yet be able to. I have it on good authority that she's been included in the revival schedule. If you're strong enough, they spend no expense to either get you back or make you suffer." His voice rapidly turned grim, "Believe me boy, you joined for life the moment you _heard_ about the Black Scripture."

Zaug made a face, nodding with a small lump in his throat. He now suspected that this whole story, while likely true, had just been meant to impress upon him the utter futility of betraying the Theocracy— and said nation's determination to not forgive such treachery.

But he'd already steeled himself the moment he stepped across the border. Unless the Theocracy had the power to beat Nazarick, they'd not be aggrandizing his services for long. He intended to be on the winning side, and it was common sense for Ainz to, in the thousands of years promised him racially, grow expansionist.

"Thank you, Gurk. That was quite enlightening." He decided to change topic, "So, any chance I can get a match with one of you?"

Adelio made a thinking face, "…You want a fight?"

"More specifically, I want _to_ fight. Smashing stray wolves and punting goblins has gotten old."

Gurk stood up immediately, "It's perfect, kid. We need to get an idea of how strong he is, and it's a good chance to blow off some steam."

Adelio's face expressed understanding instantly with that explanation, "Who then shall he fight?"

"You go first, if he handles you easily, then it's on to me. Sound good?"

Zaug's right eyebrow climbed up his face slowly as their conversation went on; finally, he said his piece, "You know, I'm right here."

"We know. What of it?"

"You were talking very much like I wasn't, it's frustrating."

Adelio made a pleased expression, "How very frank of you." He commented cheerfully.

 _Weird dude_ , Zaug decided, but shrugged it off and reequipped his armor anyway.

Gurk led the way out of the meeting chamber down to a training facility, Lea stealthily tagging along behind them. The training area was light grey in color, while the lighting was accomplished by many weak magic tools that, while dim individually, illuminated the place quite nicely.

"This is easy mode. No bright lights to shine in your eyes, no obstacles, only a single opponent… it's almost lame how bland it is." Gurk elaborated disappointedly.

"Soon you'll be doing your best to handicap me." Zaug replied arrogantly as he [Teleport]ed across the room, drawing his sword and taking a stance in his new position.

"Impressive, but you forgot your training sword. We can heal and revive people, but the Archbishops don't like it." Gurk tossed Zaug a blunt sword similar to the one he held after his remonstration.

Zaug looked sheepishly back at him as he caught the sword in his left hand, "My bad, I got excited." He sheathed his real sword, but didn't move the blunt one to his dominant hand.

It was a subtle, or perhaps quite obvious, way of saying, 'I canst handle thee; thou art no threat to me'.

Adelio made no outward comment about being taken lightly so, but his expression forfeited the secrecy his silence provided him. Nonetheless, the blonde grabbed himself a greatsword as tall as his own body, swinging it experimentally as he mentally prepared.

Zaug was internally ecstatic; he'd been spending a lot of time lately in greatsword-mode, so he was well acquainted with the limited moves available to Adelio. The greatsword was simply too heavy and outright massive a weapon to have a large repertoire of slashes for it. In fact, that was the whole strategy of the weapon from the start: simple but overwhelming strokes to break through the opponent's guard.

After Gurk's starting call, the two faced off, slowly circling one another at a safe distance.

" **Lightning."** Scratch that, safe for Zaug, dangerous for Adelio.

Adelio dodged the bolt at incredible speed, saying, **"Magic Evasion."**

Just as quickly, his demon opponent rushed in for a quick jab, the blow glancing off Adelio's right shoulder. In response, Adelio swung 'round, his greatsword whizzing through the air until it passed through Zaug.

No, that wasn't quite right. What it'd passed through was, in fact, an afterimage.

Zaug's right fist implanted into Adelio's gut before the younger man could even understand what had happened. The speed of a level 98 physically strong character was simply incomparable to the lower-end Scripture members.

Adelio's body didn't slump, and he didn't spit up blood after a second as he simply stood there, no, he flew forward as the ground below Zaug's feet nearly cracked under the strain of Newton's third law. Physics still worked fine in the New World, it seemed.

Gurk looked at Adelio's downed figure slowly, "Perhaps you should be called One-Punch KO of the Black Scripture, blondie. What was that? You shoulda seen that coming from a mile away. That's why I keep telling you, stop trying to be unique and forget the worthless greatsword." Unsaid was the fact that Gurk himself hadn't seen Zaug's move either, but the lone bead of sweat on his neck told the tale to anyone who saw it, which, fortunately for the tanned warrior, was no one at all.

"Thank you very much for your instruction." Zaug bowed politely to the rising Adelio, signaling that he had simply won a spar, not started a grudge.

"No, thank _you_ ," Adelio returned the gesture, though the custom was unfamiliar to him, swiftly.

"And that makes me the next one up," Gurk inferred as he picked out a blunted axe. Or perhaps the term axe was misleading, as the head was bigger than his broad chest and the handle as tall as he. It was more like a monstrosity, all told.

Zaug, in turn, threw away his sword and picked out a crystal ball from his inventory. It was something he'd bought around level 20 and used through level 37. Somehow he'd never got around to selling it and it'd never gotten stolen.

"[Mage's Simple Ball], if you were wondering. It's a piece of equipment that boosts my magic by a bit. I assume there is no problem?"

The blue-head shook her head, "You need to have it examined, if it's too powerful, we can't let you use it."

He thought of insulting them to get his way, but decided against it and held out his newest gear towards Lea, "Examine it then. You should be able to, right?"

The Astrologer huffed, "Who to you think I am, interloper? Of course I can appraise something of this level." After quickly closing the distance between them, she snatched the ball out of Zaug's hand and used [Appraise Magic Item] without trouble.

"It's acceptable. Rest assured, Gurk, this thing is pretty weak." Need it be said that her words were bravado? While the Theocracy _did_ possess items of much higher quality, they were so rare - and rarely seen - that it was hard to include that in one's estimations. On the scale, the [Mage's Simple Ball] would rank as fitting equipment for a Black Scripture member, not something easy to obtain by oneself.

Gurk twirled his ridiculous axe like a twig and cracked his neck in anticipation. The big man nodded towards his newest comrade, "Not stupid, picking magic against me."

"I assumed that the title Strongest Human had something to do with those muscles. I'm not overly fond of tangling with tougher men, rare as they are." Obviously, Zaug could beat Gurk in a contest of strength with no trouble, but alerting the Theocracy to the height of his powers wasn't necessary.

"Well then, lad, shall we get started? Make the first move."

"I see no reason to hold back if you're offering me a chance to **Lightning** you without compunction."

Slipping in his spell with his sentence might have been one of the cleverer things Gurk had seen, but he had decades of experience. He effortlessly blocked the spell, diverting the lightning into the ground with his axe.

"You're going to need something a little stronger, boy!" He yelled as he began to charge at Zaug, who calmly stayed still until Gurk's axe was coming down at him.

Before the iron cleaver could chop him in twain, Zaug ran towards Gurk, slipping under the axe stroke and coming out behind the man, with enough distance in a short enough time to avoid Gurk's following spin.

The opening was huge, and Zaug didn't hesitate, " **Fireball!"** Out from his hand fire shot; catching Gurk on the left shoulder just as the warrior used [Fortress].

The tanned man didn't even bother to shrug off the pain from the burns, opting to come in with another overhead swing at Zaug.

Zaug wasn't stupid, he didn't try the same trick twice, instead, he somersaulted backwards, drawing himself up and launching [Lightning] before Gurk closed the distance, if only barely.

Dodging again, this time with [Teleport], Zaug popped out to the left and behind Gurk, before invoking his next spell, " **Unholy Blight."** A dark miasma stretched out from Zaug's right hand, coming into contact with his opponent and inflicting its terrible toll. While the weakening effect was resisted, Gurk was sufficiently staggered and damaged for Zaug's following fireball to hit him square in the chest.

This, in turn, allowed Zaug to approach his wounded enemy, who he proceeded to knock out.

While it seemed easy, as it should, Zaug had won simply on the basis of his superior level granting him speed and magic power sufficient to take out Gurk naturally. But it wasn't as if he could even use actual skill on someone so much weaker than he, which meant that he wouldn't be growing in prowess around here.

The enemies were simply too weak to take seriously.

XXX

"I hear you inducted a new member into the Black Scripture, Vladimov." The aged Archbishop of Light began, " _Without_ the approval of two Archbishops."

" _With_ the approval of myself and the Archbishop of Water. That's two, you know." Vladimov shot back, hotter in tone then mere friends conversing.

It should here be explained that Light held the unique opinion that when it, the Guidelines of Recruitment, said two Archibishop's approval was needed, it meant that two plus the recommender was needed, totaling three. Vladimov subscribed to the more convenient and conventional notion that two meant two. Thus, it was not strange for backdoor arguments to occur within the ranks of the Archbishops, though they all maintained the illusion of complete unity in public.

You simply didn't make Archbishop without learning to suck it up and kiss-up and just plain lie.

"And besides," Vladimov continued lightly, "He's definitely a huge asset."

"I am aware. It is not as if you have exclusive access to data on the members of the Black Scripture. I called you here to discuss how to best use that asset."

Vlad inhaled a fraction faster than normal, "Shouldn't you have brought this up with the others?"

"I most certainly shall, but I wanted to work out with you - who knows the asset best - what a suitable first mission should be. If we come in accord it won't be hard to take the meeting by storm, at which point we'll get what we want instead of some 6-way compromise."

"What about the Catastrophe Dragon Lord? That still hasn't been dealt with."

"Foolishness," Light waved his suggestion off, "Without Downfall of Castle and Country there is no point in sending anyone at all."

"Then, considering that it's you, perhaps we should try again at Stronoff?"

"Do you really want to lose your newest member so quickly? Or do you suggest that your asset could in any way best the team we sent?" Light demanded with narrowed eyes.

Damaged pride, Vlad recognized. Well, it'd hurt him too if he lost his whole Scripture, so he wasn't judging.

"I understand. He is indeed not best suited to uncovering the mysterious benefactor of Stronoff. Perhaps he should become the face of the Theocracy?"

"You're a fool, Vladimov; you suggest that we reveal our true strength publically."

"Hardly. With _her_ still in reserve, there is no chance of the move hurting us."

Light's eyes turned slightly fiery as he glared at his younger counterpart, "She is an unstable wretch! Only if the place she guards itself falls under attack will I ever authorize her use."

Vladimov declined to admit that he somewhat regretted bringing up that particular sleeping troll, but it was just another point of contention he couldn't let go. He couldn't understand why the other Archbishops were so frightfully cautious. You have power, use it! Idle troops are useless troops! Madness, that's what it was, madness. At least that's what Vlad had decided.

"Fine then, something more to your safe-way tastes? Send him as a general or something to the Dragon Kingdom, they've been whining at us for a while now. We'll get good money, and they'll get less beastmen."

"And you're sure the asset won't do something stupid?"

"Trust me. We'll be keeping his friend _very_ close to the chest while he does his thing."

"You had better not be telling recruit to go public. I want the queen, minister, and top general to know that we helped out and nobody else."

"Ehhh," Vlad whined, "But he tested so high of the tactical test. Can't we have a resounding strategic victory that showcases our might rather than some midnight disappearance of the beastmen?"

"No, we can't. Until we're perfectly ready to make our move we're going to let the Empire think we don't know how to tell our troops 'Charge'. The Kingdom can think whatever it wants."

"That's alright then I suppose." Vladimov mused for a second, "But why so risky? Shouldn't you be a proponent of the first mission being within the Theocracy?"

Light smiled thinly, "Oh, I would, it's just that everything inside has already been handled. Despite the loss of the Sunlight Scripture, our plans are moving along at an excellent pace."

"Then, not just within my lifetime, but yours?"

Light nodded, "If there are no massive slip-ups, these weak eyes shall yet see the day our Theocracy controls half the known world."

"The ambition of ten generations… but what of the Players?"

"Unconfirmed Players, but definitely worrying. However, if they will not join us, they can go back to whatever plane they hail from."

"You've completed the [Banishment Sphere]?"

"I have indeed. A nearly immovable sphere that is able to banish creatures from other planes. It took much study to build it."

"The demons hold no terror over us now, and nor do Players. This is a great day, my friend."

Light laughed happily to the sound of Vlad's awed praise. Yes… yes… he'd done it! _He_ was the one who would send the enemies packing. _He_ was the one who'd see the ambition of his ancestors fulfilled!

XXXXXXX

Ainz rubbed his tired shoulders… back two steps… Ainz rubbed his shoulders tiredly, the mental fatigue of playing his adventurer persona while halfway running Nazarick piling up. Luckily, Albedo was reliable and very good at her job, to the extent that he wondered if he was even needed.

 _To have a boss that does everything worse than them, I'm sure everyone must feel pretty disappointed._

Sometimes he felt that Nazarick was running him, and, invariably, Momon would take a mission within a few minutes of that sentiment overtaking him. But then he had to deal with humans, who, while often amusing, were more commonly pitiful and petty. Pitifully petty.

But playing the part of Momon was even more stressful nowadays, what with _Jaldabaoth_ 's appearance recently.

And that was ignoring the fact that he'd had to play guard to the group that assaulted Nazarick. While it was important that the tomb was invaded, it didn't mean he had to like it. The idea that there was a chance for some of his lovely subordinates to be killed wasn't pleasant.

So yes, he had enjoyed crushing the last pockets of resistance personally. The human part of him was mildly disgusted, but his plans couldn't stop now.

No, not now of all times with the Baharuth Emperor coming to visit; now was a time for decisiveness.

XXXX

 **Authors Note: So, has it been awhile? A few days? It doesn't matter, you have two duties: Read it, and Review it.**

 **Or maybe it's so bad I don't want you reviewing? The silent treatment because the horribleness makes you speechless? Now I want to cry.**

 **Anyway, I don't think I particularily need to explain anything here, although an apology is in order.**

 **I made Zaug able to use fire** _ **and**_ **lightning, which apparently was stupid of me. Or so I inferred from a two-sentence blip from the Entoma-Nabe-Solution-Beta fight. So, guys who are thinking of writing a story, please don't make this mistake. For now though, we'll forget cutting our losses and just scream 'It's fanfic, anything goes!'.**

 **Yeah. Not so great of an answer. Rant over.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Overlord, nor do I claim to.**

 **Chapter 6,**

 **X**

"Your Majesty, it seems the Slane Theocracy has seen fit to send the Black Scripture."

Because she was in private with her trusted minister, Draudiron didn't reply in a way suited to her young and cute appearance, instead she asked loudly, "What's up with that?"

"I do not know, no messenger came to alert us, and the man is waiting in the ante-chamber right now. We've been caught with our pants down, so to speak."

"How did he even get into the castle?"

"You know how these types are, your Majesty. It seems likely he teleported in."

"No manners at all. Still, beggars can't be choosers."

"Quite so. Compared to the citizens who are getting eaten, putting up with a little Theocratic arrogance is nothing."

"What a pain…" The queen rolled her shoulders, "And after I thought I was done with meetings too."

The minister stared coldly at her, making his point without saying anything at all.

The Black Scale Dragon Lord sighed, "Do I look fine?"

"Perfect. Make sure to play to your looks, make him want to protect you."

"I get it already so send him in."

The minister retained his cold smile as he moved sedately to the door. Opening it, he called for the Black Scripture man and, after said fellow had stepped into the room, closed the door behind him.

The knight, presumably, in shining armor stopped short when he saw her, "…This is your Queen?"

The minister didn't let it get to him, smoothly introducing his liege, "This is indeed Her Majesty Draudiron Oriucrus, Black Scale Dragon Lord."

"Well then, I suppose the first order of business ought to be me criticizing your security measures, but I won't bore Her Majesty with such things." While the man himself hadn't admitted it, he'd accomplished the criticism well enough.

Draudiron giggled girlishly, "Please don't, and introduce yourself, I haven't met you before."

"I am Zaug, 13th seat of the Black Scripture, due to low experience. I'm afraid this is my first mission, so please take care of me."

She wanted to scream at the Theocracy. They sent scads of money each year to them and they send her one rookie!? It was still better than before though, when they hadn't sent anyone at all.

"I'm sure you'll do a fine job, right?" She exuded, through her voice and mannerisms, a nigh-irresistible charm that worked on all ages and sexes. Her kid-voice and innocent appearance had caused many to say 'of course' instantly. But Zaug was a demon. If such a simple thing could work on him, he'd be saving the world and not working for himself.

Instead, he merely gazed into her eyes, "I was ordered to do a fine job, so it's what I'll do." The hidden meaning was clear: I work for the Theocracy and not for you, "Since discussing strategy with a nine year-old is not my idea of a good time, I'll leave with this comment: Get a longer skirt. Seriously, you're a queen and child, you shouldn't be showing so much skin."

Not that he actually minded, but these words were a rejection of that part of him that saw the soft thighs of the queen and lusted. Not in the sense of sensual gratification, but rather in the sense of a twisted connoisseur. To put it frankly, he wanted to eat her.

But he also desperately wanted to not want to eat her, resulting in his internal dichotomy. This, in turn, caused him to speak harshly and rashly, a sort of anger at his own self that was vented at others.

But Draudiron wasn't aware of the strange psychology within Zaug, and became offended.

Who was this man to come in here and insult her appearance that she wore just to impress him and other wretches like him?

Ironically, she herself felt a stronger dislike for her current form and dress than Zaug, but that didn't mean she would simply let it pass. Humans are strange creatures, we hate ourselves, but when called out on that very thing we hate we become angry and defensive.

However, Draudiron was first and foremost a queen, so she had to quickly put aside her personal feelings and salvage the situation.

She never got the chance. Zaug had already teleported away by the time she recovered enough to reply. An impressive feat, surely, as she had put aside her misplaced fury in half a second.

 **Over a day later…**

Retractable claws, fierce visages, fur, and a preference for human meat, it didn't take a genius to know the term for what was described. Beastman.

Large, arrogant, and way stronger than your average human, these sentient lifeforms had only simple ambitions in life: Good food, good life, good wife, was that too much to ask for?

For all humans, the answer was a resounding yes. It was way too much to ask for, considering the fact that humans would have to die, would have to be _eaten_ , for the first wish to be satisfied.

Ironic that dead humans wasn't too high a price to pay for dreams of world domination and conquering your neighbors. But such is the way of men, and such is the way of war. And, ultimately, the humans weren't wrong.

Both pride, in one's own nation, and life, what the beastmen would take, were too valuable to give up.

And so in the pursuance of pride and life, wars were fought, and men, along with creatures of all races, died.

Was it sad? Maybe.

Was it wrong? Probably.

Was it inevitable? Obviously.

But what was he to do? Refuse to kill the beastmen for some lofty philosophical goal of peace in our time? Peace at any price ended in death anyway, so why not die fighting for your pride and life?

But as for Zaug, he could allow the beastmen to rush at him and chew on him and he'd be fine. Their teeth would break before they drew blood. So life wasn't the concern here, at least not his own.

So why did he fight?

Pride was the only answer left, and pride it was.

He'd said he was going to take care of these beastmen, and he hadn't meant give them homes and families to love them. He'd meant _take care_. Kill. And so that's what he did, because he was too prideful to go back on what he said.

With these intentions his two-handed sword - not to be confused with a greatsword - hewed clean through the nominal armoring of his bestial opponents. It was with a serene calm, terrifying to his foes, that he danced through the bodies, though he never had to step over one.

He advanced so quickly that gravity's remorseless pull could not match his alacrity.

XXX

Ruffiase was a strong male, a leader of beasts who could boast a hundred kills, and he was rightfully proud of it. As a youngster he'd been the runt and receiver of many a sadistic action. Not that anyone but he would remember those shameful moments of his life, as Ruffiase had taken his revenge swiftly after he grew strong. No one shamed a beastman and got away with it, especially not when the one they offended was Ruffiase.

As mentioned above, Ruffiase was a strong leader, and the Beast King had entrusted him with a company of virile males. Not that he couldn't handle the rowdy lot, strength commanded respect, and he was respected.

Rumor had it that he was the fourth strongest among the beastmen, an impressive position to say the least. In fact, if he grew even stronger, it wouldn't be a surprise if someday it was Ruffiase who sat upon the throne of the Beast King. Or so, at least, the grapevine reported.

But Ruffiase knew better than the common lot. He was sixth-place at best.

You see, every beastman naturally put the king at the top of the totem pole, but it wasn't so.

No, there was one stronger than the king. Far, far, stronger. Ruffiase had only seen him once, but once was all he needed. He'd understood from the moment of seeing the fellow that he was strong. Stronger than all imagination.

So no, Ruffiase didn't dream of becoming the King of Beasts, but he did dream of simpler matters.

Like human children. They were the most beautiful things in the universe, in his opinion, and he loved them. The taste of a little girl's body was just exquisite, better than any beef, pork, or even adult humans.

And, since he was strong, Ruffiase could afford to eat the precious commodity. Among the beastmen, human children were extremely precious, especially since non-subjugated beastmen were tearing through the Draconic Kingdom's supplies.

Blasted cowards, advancing in front of the army while the fighting was easy, and running behind when the going got tough. He'd kill every last one of them, ignoring the King's command, if they stole the ultimate prize from him. His one true goal, the most valuable thing he knew to exist. Draudiron Oriucrus, child-ruler of the Draconic Kingdom. Just imagining the feeling of exultation as he devoured her tender body was enough to send him into a frenzy.

Ruffiase growled loudly, "Quartermaster, bring me the best human child you've got!"

The aforementioned panther-man growled right back at him, "We've got none left, Lord Ruffiase."

"WHAT?" He roared in anger, punching his quartermaster in the face as he left his lounging position, "You're supposed to make sure we're well-supplied."

"I can only regulate the rate at which the men eat. I can't just make humans appear."

"Useless." Ruffiase spat on his face, "Rarif!"

A young wolf-man ran in, kneeling in front of his master, "Yes, my Lord."

"Do we have orders to advance?"

"Not orders sire, but the king has granted permission to advance up to twenty leagues."

"Then advance we shall, tell the men to strike tents and be ready to go in a quarter, I want meat by lunchtime."

The bleeding quartermaster didn't bother to correct his fearsome commander, although they still had plenty of sheep. It was understood when Lord Ruffiase said he wanted meat, he wanted human. Nothing strange to prefer the best meat out there, but Ruffiase did more than prefer it. He ate it exclusively. It wasn't something an underprivileged panther-man like him could afford.

Ruffiase put on his chainmail with Rarif's help; his young aide cinching up the light armor in the few places it needed tightening.

All around the camp similar scenes were playing out, though the others helped out their buddies instead on relying on a squire. These were the beastmen regulars. They didn't go in their skin and fight with their claws like most beastmen. By the command of the Beast King, they wore armor and used weapons.

It should here be noted that these regulars were by far the minority, but they made up the backbone of the beastman army. Not that they'd ever really needed to fight seriously, the humans were losing just fine against the naturalists.

Indeed, among the humans, mail-clad beastmen were little more than a legend, so little were they seen. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say 'so little were they survived'. Few humans lived against normal beastmen, and against these, the strongest and finest, even fewer could boast survival.

Within the fifteen minutes prescribed by Ruffiase, his troops stood ready. Armed with bows, shields of stretched leather, and cross-swords, in addition to their chainmail, they were without doubt armed to the teeth. Armed to kill. Ready to secure his supper.

Yes, Ruffiase was delighted to see his troops ready, and they too were delighted to move forward.

Their meat was waiting for them.

XXXX

"Your Majesty, the generals are reporting decreased encounters and near-zero breakthroughs across the line."

At her minister's bland recital of the current state of the beastman conflict, Draudiron could only sigh.

For all she disliked the Theocracy's helping hand, she had to admit he was effective. And at least he was better than the lolicon adventurer, Cerabrate. At this rate, the beastmen would be repelled without her having to surrender herself to the foul fellow.

As always though, there were two sides to the coin. The Theocracy would be holding this over their head and undoubtedly asking for even _more_ money.

With all the donations they got, it wasn't strange that the Theocracy was running a budget surplus. Seriously, the idea of having the ruling class be priests was inspired, this way both church tithes _and_ taxes ended up in their greasy hands.

The little queen sighed again. This wasn't the time to envy Slane's prosperity.

"Should we advance the line, then?"

The minister just stared coolly back at her and shrugged, "If the Theocracy's man is capable of winning this war on his own, why not just let him?"

"That's very cold."

"Not as cold as the corpses of your dead citizenry will be if you tell them to advance."

"What about the Empire's troops?"

The minister was far too experienced to grimace outwardly at the mention of the Baharuthian army, but he certainly did inside.

"It's better to not even attempt it. They'll do their own thing anyway, so you shouldn't lose face by having your orders ignored."

Face this, face that, foreign aid this, beastman that. How she was sick of this war.

"So we just sit here?"

"While it's true that the Theocracy will be mad if their man dies, we can just say it's their own fault for sending only one."

Basically, if the Slane Theocracy tried to blame them for not advancing their line to support Zaug, they could just fire back that it was unreasonable to expect a lone man to survive in the first place. This would inevitably make it less likely for the Theocracy to send help in the future, but they weren't getting big help anyway.

XXX

Zaug frowned upon returning to camp, as he always did. He just couldn't get used to his companion.

To elaborate: Just because Oriucrus had only met Zaug - and the man himself fought alone - didn't mean that he was actually solo. That would be crazy. The Theocracy rarely deployed the Black Scripture, and even rarer was the sight of one alone. While it did occur, the Archbishops were not the sort to send a new member off on his own.

Unfortunately for this particular man, they'd chosen someone utterly unsuited to the roughness of the Draconic Kingdom's wilds: The 7th seat of the black scripture, Catala.

To put it in the simplest of terms, she was a middle schooler. Complete with miniskirt, maroon jacket, and knee-stockings- B-class Zettai Ryouiki, Zaug noted absently. She was a definite cosplayer. While her body size matched the part, it was evident from her face that she was in her twenties.

And, to complete the fiasco, when asked where she got the idea for the familiar outfit, she'd replied that it was something originating from the Six Great Gods.

Zaug wanted to punch them in the face.

To pollute another world with cosplay, those idiots must have been true idiots. Not that he should have been surprised. Most people who were obsessed enough with Yggdrasil to stay for the final moments were without a doubt middle-aged otakus.

But it raised some frightening questions, like, if they'd go so far as to 'invent' middle-school outfits in this world, how far had they gone? Would there be sexy-nurse costumes or batman suits? The possibilities were both endless and dreadful.

Back to the nightmare at hand, while Zaug prepared dinner, scavenged from 'around', his compatriot oversaw her nails. Petting this one and sighing about the minute imperfections of that one, she opened her schoolbag, retrieved her finest file and began to return her nails to their ultimate state.

Zaug could appreciate a woman caring for her appearance, but this little one took it too far, in his esteemed opinion.

After several more minutes of turning away from his technical comrade, the food was ready.

"It's not much, but supper is ready." With these words Zaug placed a rugged wooden bowl, the finest he'd looted from the beastmen, in front of the 7th seat.

She raised a single brow all of three millimeters, "What is it this time?"

"I figured we'd try some beastman cuisine: teenager stew."

Her eyes widened and she almost yelled before she recovered herself and leveled a narrow glare at him as she accepted the meal, "You don't think I'm stupid enough to fall for that, do you?"

Zaug shrugged easily, "They say human meat is the best, please give me your opinion."

"You can't be serious!"

 _Ah, that horrified tone, that awful screech, that semi-belief… this is what I've been waiting for._

"Oho? So you finally fell for this one's jokes that you'd never fall for?" Somehow, he wasn't having much luck with the Black Scripture females, despite his impeccably crafted looks. Was it his personality? Nah, couldn't be.

"You…" She growled lowly, otherwise remaining inert. She'd tried violence before, once. Zaug hadn't even felt it. Whatever he was made of, it wasn't plain human skin.

Dispelling her concerns and frustration, she ate the food. Which, as always, had a good number of imperfections.

Takashi had been a decent cook in life, but Zauberklinge didn't have the [Cook] job. It somehow made things tougher. So while food he made was edible, it made one think, 'Let's eat out next time we get a chance'.

That being said, it was the tastiest thing around for at least a couple leagues, so the brown-haired faux middle schooler didn't complain.

"So, you looking forward to tomorrow?"

"Another day following the grand Zaug around and scuffing my knees… How could I not?"

Zaug smirked good-naturedly. At least this one could at least use sarcasm to humorous effect.

"To think you thought of me as grand, I'm very flattered."

"You should be, my word counts for something, unlike a certain dark-haired former adventurer."

He yawned largely in response, "Anyway, get some rest."

"Is the grand Zaug admitting defeat so soon?"

"I've been winning all day, so I can take a loss." He replied as he entered his small tent and bedded down for the night.

Bright and early in the morning did Zaug arise from his bed, and quickly woke Catala from her slumber, to said woman's tired frustration, "Didn't I say not to wake me until you've got breakfast ready?"

"I didn't I tell you that it's good to be up for a few minutes before eating?"

"And didn't I ignore you? I'm up now, so get away from my tent and let me change."

"Not a problem."

Saying such a line, Zaug moved over to the ashes of last night's campfire and rekindled the old flame. Uncaring of the smoke, he used whatever wood he could find and boiled some porridge.

Cooked over a campfire, without the [Cook] job and with bland ingredients, it was no wonder that Catala didn't ask for seconds. Nor, for that matter, did Zaug.

Grains rather disagreed with him, he'd found. So did fruits, and veggies, and everything but meat really. Still, it wasn't as if he was so undisciplined that he couldn't shove down some less-than-great food, so that's exactly what he did. Didn't make his inner demon happy though, that guy seriously wanted to eat Catala, after doing unmentionables to her, and lie down for a lazy nap.

It made Takashi want to commit seppuku, and he was convinced that his promise to himself to do so if he slipped was the only reason he hadn't. Already it was difficult to not eat a few choice pieces of beastman on the side.

The smell of blood was overwhelmingly delectable, and it took incredible amounts of willpower to resist.

But resisting was what made him human, not giving in. Giving in made him a true demon, and that wasn't something he was okay with being right now. So he abstained. Even when it hurt or he felt that it wouldn't be a problem, he didn't do it. Because Zaug knewthat if he gave an inch, the yard far behind would not be.

After finishing his food Zaug packed up his tent and doused the fire, waiting the requisite seventy seconds for Catala to finish with her tent before marching off in the direction of the beastmen.

"I think I've got a fairly good grasp of your skillset, Zaug, so I'll be handling the fighting today."

Completely in line with her bespectacled visage, Catala was extremely studious and had taken notes at every turn. Marking down this, drawing a diagram of that, everything Zaug had used in front of her had been written down. It was just because of this that he'd been doing all the fighting: She'd wanted to get a good grasp of his abilities.

Perhaps, no, assuredly, this was the reason she had been chosen as his companion for this mission. Mock-battles against his peers were all well and good, but they, the Archbishops and the Captain, needed hard data on how he handled real-live situations.

Incidentally, Catala's first -and it was in John Hancock size writing- note was that Zaug was "very straightforward". Sadly, inching around your opponent was purposeless without skills like [Backstab], so Zauberklinge hadn't bothered to learn such tactics in Yggdrasil.

So yeah, Zaug charged straight in and handled the fight without particularly planning it out beforehand. He never really needed to. His overwhelming level and superior skill with a sword was plenty enough.

You see, back on earth, mankind had been developing sword fighting techniques for thousands of years. But here, in the New World, recorded history began only a few hundred years ago. Even with superhuman talent and gloriously strong competition, that is, magic, swordsmanship was inferior here. True, the people compensated with insane strength and agility, but that was stat-boosts and not actual skills. With equivalent stats, a sword-master from earth would certainly win.

Not to say that Zaug was a sword-master, far from it, but he wasn't a lower-echelon fighter by any means.

That said, his skill was obvious to the observant Catala, and her notebook was chockfull of curiosities from his fighting style. How he stepped here, how far he extended, how he turned his body or used the force of his lower body to do such and such, it was all duly noted.

And even aware as he was of this scrutiny, Zaug was unable to stop himself from showing off unfamiliar movements. How could he? These things were drilled into him like a second nature. He couldn't just flail around like a novice when he wasn't one. It simply wasn't possible.

He'd turned over the idea of burning her notebook in his head but, wisely, decided against it. He'd assumed, correctly, that back in the Theocracy Lea, that is, the Thousand Leagues Astrologer, had been watching, copying down what Catala wrote. Such was the way of long-sight magic users; they could even read your notes from thousands of miles away.

So, as was his way, Zaug pushed such unsolvable matters from his mind and slaughtered beastmen. Only, that wasn't going to be the thing anymore it would seem. Catala of all people wanted to get her hands dirty and leave him to just watch.

But she was technically his superior, even if his promotion was only waiting on success of his first mission, so he could only nod and say, "No problem, you're going to be fine."

"That condescending tone irks me."

"Did I mention? Getting told 'don't bother killing the enemy anymore' irks me too, welcome to the club." His tone was more far angrier than he actually felt.

Catala gave him a long look with her brown eyes before sighing, "That's not what I said."

"True, but it comes to the same thing."

"It'll be good for you to learn what I can do in combat. This way, if ever the need arises for us to fight together we'll actually be able to."

Zaug had to admit, it was a fairly good reason, "This humble servant bows before your great wisdom."

Such was his mocking reply, to Catala's apparent ire. She didn't like being mocked.

"Be quiet, Zaug."

He acquiesced with a 'whatever' motion, but did not speak as he followed Catala through the loosely-wooded land.

Plodding along quietly quickly got boring to him though, so Zaug began a subdued hum. Catala visibly frowned, but deigned not to comment, to her companion's amusement.

Eventually, inevitably even, the humming took on a tune and, before long, words. At that point Catala ordered him to silence once more, and the process repeated.

Or rather, it ought to have. Instead, before he could start humming again, Catala actually found some beastmen.

The fellows fairly covered the land so great were their numbers, as a result, finding them never took long. Especially so since the beasties bothered themselves not about hiding, they pranced about as if they owned the place. And, sadly, in these parts, they pretty much did.

While it was a fact that by far the greater portion of the Draconic Kingdom was still under human control, the areas already subjugated were completely controlled. There was no lingering human resistance. There was only the frontline, and then beastmen. No relief or aid could be expected here, the only humans were caged livestock that would be eaten slowly.

Although, to be frank, slowly was a relative term. It was unlikely that the humans would last more than a couple more weeks, and at that time, another beastman surge would occur. Zaug and Catala were unaware of these finer intricacies however, so they simply went on blissfully killing their enemies.

Zaug's face twitched into a grin as his right hand automatically reached for his sword. Remembering as he drew it that Catala wanted to kill the beastmen herself, Zaug made no further moves beyond taking a stance with his blade and preparing to cast [Teleport].

The brown-eyed faux school-girl, on the other hand, withdrew her weapons of choice from her pale pink bag.

And what, you ask, were these weapons? Only a piece of paper and an orichalcum pen.

Granted, on the surface, paper wasn't much of a weapon. However, with a bit of ingenuity it could become an effective piece of hardware. With Martial Arts or magic one could harden the paper, allowing its sharp edge to bite into soft metals or its broad plane to resist assaults. In addition, it could be used to hide her true weapon: the pen.

Orichalcum was good stuff, easily capable of piercing any lesser materials, and downright incapable of bending outside of the blacksmith's chamber.

Or, at least, by New World standards. Back in Yggdrasil, Orichalcum was by no means excessively powerful or uncommon. Everybody had some.

Here though? You might not get your hands on any if you spent a lifetime looking. The little pen Catala held was worth more than your average city. Including human resources contained within. That's how rare this stuff was.

Catala was small, of that there was no doubt, and it was painfully obvious that her diminutive frame couldn't handle the force of a beastman's swing. So she dodged. After that, she drew attention with her paper, and, after finding a suitable opening, plunged her pen into a vital point.

She wasn't a Black Scripture member for nothing; while not as quick as Zaug at dispatching her foes, she certainly needed no help against these fellows with their lackluster equipment.

Altogether boring, in Zaug's opinion, this one-sided slaughter.

 _Is this the best the beastmen have to offer?_

XX

It was a good day to be alive, Ruffiase decided. A very good day. The tender and succulent taste of a young child's flesh was simply divine. And to think that whole countries were just waiting for the beastmen to eat their way through. Meat for a thousand years and more, if managed properly.

To the babbling irregular in front of him though, it wasn't such a good day he supposed.

The fellow kept going on about a human girl murdering scads of beastmen with a tiny weapon and a piece of white cloth. Or something like that. Ruffiase didn't really give two bits what happened to the irregulars.

Bunch of weasels who were just riding the wave.

Still, his fighting instinct was twitching. Anything that could single-handedly kill a group of over forty beastmen, even irregular wimps, was something worth killing.

And if the sad thing in front of him was right, he could enjoy the fruits of his labor at the dinner table.

On second thought, hadn't he said this was a young female human? Fighting in the Draconic Kingdom? Single-handedly killing numerous foes? Wasn't Oriucrus supposed to be some sort of Dragon Lord?

It couldn't be.

But what if it were? What if he was missing the number one chance of a lifetime?

It merited investigation.

"Rarif! Alert the boys to follow me as soon as they are able, and then bring me my armor, my shield, and my sword."

"Yes, my Lord!"

"You, stop groveling and making excuses and answer me, this human girl, where was she?"

"Eh, ah, Lord Ruffiase, it's west of here."

Ruffiase mustered up enough control not to hit the fellow, but only barely, "Incompetent! Of course it's west of here! Where?!"

"T-That is… I don't know how to describe it-"

This time, it was too much. Ruffiase kicked the leopard-man such that the food in his stomach spilled out.

"Disgusting."

"M-Master, please don't be angry, this worthless piece of dirt can show you the way. Definitely."

Ruffiase's face twisted into a feral grin, "You'd better be able to, for your sake."

"Hii! Of course. I won't fail. Definitely."

"Get up."

The average-looking leopard-man did as ordered, though with hesitance.

Fortunately for him, Rarif returned with his master's gear before said overlord could do anything. The wolf-man affirmed that he'd informed the soldiers when asked, and then helped Ruffiase don his armor.

No sooner had he gotten ready then Ruffiase set out, the sniveling coward leading the way.

"What did the girl look like?"

The leopard-man winced visibly, "I do not really remember."

"Well remember. What did she look like?"

"Eeeh, dark hair? Like a child, yes. Definitely."

"You've said that. Eye color?"

"This useless trash that even his momma doesn't love really doesn't know. I never got close enough. Definitely."

Ruffiase clenched his armored fist in anger. Deciding that mister definitely was too valuable to kill for now, being his only lead on Draudiron, he punched an unsuspecting and innocent tree instead.

"Hii!"

The tree had fallen over, so strong was Ruffiase's blow.

How thick it was he didn't know, but it to be looked around eight inches in diameter. That kind of force, to knock down something like that in one blow… It wasn't ordinary.

The crack of the tree breaking seemed to some sort of signal though, as in the blink of a careless eye two things happened.

One, Ruffiase's veterans caught up and lined themselves up behind their leader, who had stopped in reaction to the second thing.

A short, under-aged woman, a girl he supposed, stood directly in their path.

"H-her! That's the one. Definitely." With no further comment, the leopard-man ran behind the line of soldiers to watch the action from safety.

The distinctly light _-_ haired woman smiled slightly, "I knew it would work. Strength invites challenge, especially when we're talking about genocidal beastmen."

"I could have found them anyway. This plan was unnecessary." A male argued back.

With his animal-like ears, Ruffiase had no trouble finding him. In a tree, several meters behind the girl, there was a young man in full plate-armor.

Strong.

That was his impression of these two, but the man was stronger. Not only was he treating this carelessly, but he'd also jumped fifteen feet into the air whilst wearing armor. That carelessness wasn't bravado. It was the rightful arrogance of the strong.

"You're not Oriucrus." Ruffiase stated.

"I didn't know that, thanks."

"Bows!" Ruffiase narrowed his eyes as he drew his sword, "But you'll die just the same!"

By the time he was done speaking his troops had already pulled out their bows and were nocking arrows.

"Shoot!"

The beastmen lost no time. No sooner had Ruffiase finished his command then they loosed their deadly darts, the arrows fairly darkening the sky as they hurtled to their target.

XXX

 **Aha! That's that.**

 **Criticisms? Suggestions? An OC who really makes you mad? How about leaving a review?**

 **If there's something you don't understand, feel free to message me, but fair warning, I might not understand either.**

 **Your now-favorite author,**

 **Iamwhononofyouare**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: You know by now that I don't really own Overlord, but whatever. I don't own Overlord or its characters.**

 **Chapter 7**

 **XXXXXXX**

Catala could move faster than your average arrow, yes, but not instantaneously. The distance was too short to gain the speed necessary, so she instead used the power all humans possess.

Light-speed vision. Cannons, guns, bows, railguns, crossbows, none shot faster than light-speed. But a human could see at this, the greatest of all speeds. The trouble was your brain keeping up with the data, but for super-humans, and Catala was one, this limitation was massively retrograded.

So, just like that, she calculated the trajectories of the arrows headed towards her and decided on a course of action.

Catala leapt forward, crouching low and deflecting a couple of arrows away with her paper, the rest flying harmlessly above and beside her. It was a simple and effective maneuver, not showy, but impressive to those who knew their stuff.

Ruffiase's expression turned somewhat sour, but it wasn't so much of a surprise that he expressed himself more vocally. Indeed, he himself would be able to achieve such a result, though by a different method.

There was no need to waste his troop's lives and energy on this woman. Uninterrupted, he was confident of his success.

The trouble was the tree-boy. Ruffiase wasn't stupid, he knew at a glance that he wouldn't win with just one of him against these two.

But if he had another…

"Flares!"

Let his men think him a coward; he wasn't going to freaking die.

The beastmen regulars were too well-trained to question a battlefield command, it simply wasn't done. Therefore, with damaged pride, their flaremen released a red rocket into the sky.

It indicated an urgent request for help. It was also a color that had only been seen once before. Most beastmen would rather die than lose their pride and ask for assistance.

On the plus side, no beastman would ignore the plea, if only to shame the one who issued it.

"Your plan worked a little _too_ well, perhaps." The tree-boy commented sarcastically as his eyes followed the rocket.

"There can't be that many around. I can handle this group myself."

"And I'm to take the reinforcements." He yawned, "When they finally arrive."

 _Let them talk; each moment brings me closer to victory._

"I've already won, from the moment you attacked the beastmen, you were dead."

"Let's test that out, shall we?"

Ruffiase readied his sword, a fine piece of mythril he'd taken off the corpse of a human noble, "Come then, if you dare."

 _Fast._

Yes, the human woman was fast, but so was he. Her little paper shield couldn't hold up to his swings, and he reduced it by half right off the bat.

His reach was just too far. Catala's weapon wasn't just short; it was the shortest melee weapon. And with how fast Ruffiase moved, there was no way to score a hit without being able to deflect blow.

But that was a naïve way of thinking. After-all, that didn't take into account [Martial Arts].

" **Ability Boost."** Instantly her speed increased, and the girl's weapon shot towards him.

But the human had underestimated him. Did she think that humans were the only ones who could use [Martial Arts]?

" **Two-fold Kick."** Even faster than the human's attack, Ruffiase's own slammed into her. Fortunately for the girl, she managed, somehow, to use [Fortress] before his technique landed. Blow back but undamaged, Catala looked up at her opponent.

Shock. That was the word that described her expression.

"Pahahaha! Did you think that somehow humans were the only ones to create skills? My people have been fighters since the moment we were born! Did you really think jumped up livestock and farmers could stand a chance?"

" **Heavy Slash!"** Ruffiase brought his weapon down with a lightning quick stroke that gave off a fearful pressure.

Catala dodged by backing up, but when his following upward slash came, she could only go to the side. Trees tended to get in the way around here.

He continued to keep her on the defensive by raining down blow after blow, using a martial art whenever she tried anything serious.

Continuously striking at your enemy has been portrayed as exhausting, and it is. But then, what about shifting your entire body to leave your opponent's attack range?

It could only be described as harrowing.

Catala had rarely fought with someone of her own level - they were rare - and the constant fear of getting hit wasn't something she was used to. Her fighting style relied on striking the enemy down quickly, but somehow this beastmen was just fast enough to stop her, even under [Ability Boost].

If that was the case, she just needed to up the ante, **"Greater Ability Boost!"**

With her newfound strength, Catala struck out at the beastman captain, her orichalcum pen flashing as she homed in for the kill.

It ought to land, this blow, executed at the level it was. Based on the speed she'd measured from her opponent, there was no chance that he could dodge this, or even block it.

Ruffiase only grinned, bringing his sword down.

Blood flew into the air. Red and thick, it jumped a couple inches out of the body that had once contained it.

"Impossible…" With this final word, Catala, 7th Seat of the Black Scripture, slipped down and fell on her face, blood still spilling out of the wound on her back.

Ruffiase chuckled, "Only an idiot starts at full power or finishes his opponent right off when he's trying to buy time."

Tree-boy allowed himself to fall out of the tree, landing easily as he stared seriously at Ruffiase.

"You beat her easily, so why did you call for help?"

"Hah! Do you think I'm the kind of idiot who monologues and tells you his plans?"

"Frankly, I did. It was worth a shot. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to heal that woman."

Ruffiase lifted his sword's hilt above his head, holding his blade down, "You'll never get the chance!"

But it was he that never got the chance. Blown back by an astonishing strike from the human, Ruffiase watched confoundedly as the human male poured a thick red fluid onto his downed compatriot.

It wasn't blood, the color was off.

Ruffiase sniffed the air, instantly being struck with a peculiar scent. He knew this scent. Back in the interior, the Beast King had set some humans to work for him, making… so-called healing elixirs. This smelled somewhat similar, but with a stronger alchemical tinge and no herbs.

At the time, Ruffiase was confused. Why not just eat these humans?

The Beast King explained diligently that sometimes it was better to keep your livestock alive instead of butchering them. Like keeping silkworms to make luxury fabric, the beastmen kept humans to make useful goods. After all, if they're worth more to you alive, why kill them?

But, as he saw what occurred when the potion was poured onto the girl, he understood fully why the King kept humans.

First, the bleeding stopped, then, her wound closed up, further than that, her complexion returned.

When the armored human kicked her lightly in the side, she got up instantly. Without pain on her back, fully restored, excepting the exhaustion she'd earned fighting the superior Ruffiase.

"What?" Catala turned to Zaug, "Why are you kicking me, what happened?"

Then, as her memories flooded back, Catala realized what had happened, "That blasted beastman got me… How am I fine?"

But her fellow had hidden the potion used to heal her, seeing no purpose in revealing it.

Besides, it was funny, watching her get confused when the answer was in front of her face.

Everyone used potions, yet somehow she couldn't connect the dots and figure out that he'd used high-grade stuff on her. So much for being scholarly and wise.

Zaug grinned at his secret win, "How should I know?"

"How unconvincing. But we have more important matters, this beastman is strong."

Zaug's brow went up as he tsukkomied internally, _No, you're just weak._

Still, playing along was the name of the game. He hadn't come this far acting weak to suddenly break character, "I can keep him occupied, you watch for a chance."

"Sounds like a plan. Just make sure he doesn't get to your head. I just can't understand why you don't wear a helmet."

"It interferes with my field of view. I like my field of view. 'The moment you cannot see is the moment you die.'"

"What's that, your martial philosophy?"

"Part of it," Zaug drew his two-hander, "Let's see what you've got, beastman."

The bestial warrior opposite him snarled, but made no comment as he sharpened his senses.

" **Strength of a Thousand Warriors."**

The beastman commander's muscles bulged and his eyes glowed lightly under the effects of this top-class [Martial Art]. This was something the Beast King had used in his presence, and Ruffiase had trained for many a moon to master it himself. Shamefully, he'd had to ask for pointers, and this burning stain kept him from using the skill without dire need.

But again, Ruffiase would rather lose his pride than die.

The pressure Ruffiase emitted was on an entirely different level now, and it was clear that if his sword was made of any lesser material, it would have already broken under his iron grip. This was the strength that had earned the respect of his kin. This was the power he'd gotten from his King. This was the expression of his indomitable spirit that refused to die. This was his ultimate stroke.

" **Rising Cutting Strike!"**

And this? This was the remnant of the days where he was weak, the skill he had forged through his own fear, his own power, his own will. It was the remnants of the days where only trickery would see him on the victor's stand.

And that was why… that was why his strike was a diagonal slash, executed at unheard-of speeds, from his shoulder. From above.

The name of [Rising Cutting Strike] was the trick, anyone who heard this name would automatically look for an upward slash. Yet, the actual technique was downward in nature. For those who'd never heard of this clever move, it always spelled disaster.

This human too would fall, his potions would die with him, and the girl would be dead instantly.

And yet, why was it that he felt fear? For what reason did he doubt?

…Ah. That was why.

How had the human been able to blow him away so easily before? He hadn't even put any effort into it. It was like he'd just flicked him away.

How strong did he have to be to do that? While it was true that the Beast King could do similar, it would take effort.

Was it because it took him by surprise? Wait. When had the human closed the distance anyway? One moment he was landing on the ground and saying his little line, and the next Ruffiase was flying backwards.

 _No! Now is the time for action, not fear!_

With these feelings in his heart, Ruffiase finished his stroke.

His worst fears were confirmed. Ruffiase could only watch in anger as the human made a painfully obvious fake expression of exertion as he parried the blow easily.

So strong was the blow and so sharp were the swords… something had to give. It was Ruffiase's mythril blade. Cleanly chopped off at the point where contact was made, his sword did not even quaver so easily had the other ruined it.

It was all he could do not to give in to his rising despair as he saw that the tree-boy's weapon was not chipped in the slightest.

He'd never had a chance, had he?

Then, to survive this, he had to live. He had to live to survive. How was he going to live? What could he do? He couldn't win, that was obvious. That implied that he couldn't run.

Even if his King saw the flare and came this instant, both of them would fall just the same.

"This humble one asks you to not kill him, and instead accept my services for life to repay the debt."

Better to live ignominiously as the servant of a great man than to die fighting that selfsame man. Once you die, it's all over. That was Ruffiase's philosophy.

"Just like that?"

"Better for this pile of trash to live as great one's servant than to have great one kill him here."

The human grinned slightly before sighing and sheathing his blade, "'To live as a slave is better than to die free.' These words I know, but can you truly live by them?"

"Until the day this piece of cow-pie dies."

"I accept, so stop talking like that. It's good to acknowledge your betters, but taking it too far will just tire both of us out."

"If great one says so, it is so."

There was a day he'd lived only by false humility and enforced servitude, planning the day he'd cut the head off his master. He'd succeeded, at length, but not by letting the other side know of his intentions.

Those days had returned, and they would be no different. He'd bide his time and act like a good little boy, all the while searching for weaknesses and growing stronger.

"That's settled then." He paused, "Well, not quite. I'm your new master, Zaug."

"Your humble servant Ruffiase stands ready."

"How's that, Catala?"

"Not fine at all. This beastman scum is obviously trying to save his own skin for now, but he'll betray you later."

"That's simple. I just need to prove that I'm strong, enough that he won't even try." Zaug drew himself and considered for half a second, " **Chaos. Wave of Fear. Triplet Magic: Unholy Bolts."**

First, some of the beastmen on the left flank began to attack their brethren, second, a dark miasma spread out from Zaug's hand, engulfing the center and part of the right. Thirdly, three magic circles appeared in the sky around Zaug, spewing negative-nature diamond-shaped bolts out at Ruffiase's former subordinates, successfully shredding all but a few.

Those remaining were all insane or struck by the fear status effect.

The crazies finished off their fear-stricken kinsmen quickly, leaving only Catala, Ruffiase, Zaug, and six insane beastmen who were charging them.

"Finish them, Ruffiase."

"At once!" Finally slinging the shield off his back, Ruffiase stepped forward with his shortened blade and easily dispatched the [Chaos] victims.

"And now we wait. When they arrive, those helps you asked for, I want you to kill them."

 _It might seem cruel, asking a man to kill his former comrades, but this is necessary. Without at least this much, he would think of running right back to his old life whenever I look away, but if news of his betrayal reaches his old buddies…_

Convincing himself with such words, Zaug decided on a course of action.

"Of course, my master."

And come they did, a group looking much like Ruffiase's had, though with a huge bear-man at their head. This bear-man, unlike most beastmen, looked more beast than man, to the extent that if it wasn't for his obviously natural upright gait and sentience, one might mistake him for a real bear.

"Ruffiase," The hulking commander began rudely, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Die."

Ruffiase dashed forward, bringing his sword down with a [Heavy Slash] and taking the other beastman by surprise.

Ruffiase was fast, and the other was slow.

But the bear-man hadn't been made a commander just because he looked imposing. He was imposing.

" **Fortress. Bestial Aggression.** So you've betrayed us."

"Call it whatever you like, you'll still be a dead man."

Bringing out his claws, the bear-man swung his arms and bared his fangs.

"You'll never live long enough to enjoy whatever these humans promised you! GRAAHHH!"

Ruffiase glanced at his sword in distaste. The inches he'd lost weren't helping. And while he'd love to throw off the shield for more speed, he didn't dare. While it couldn't stand up to a swipe from the bear in front of him, it was his lifeline if the others attacked. With a shield, he could pretty much ignore their arrows, without it, he'd be constantly pressured.

The balance of active and inactive power was with Ruffiase. He was confident in his side's win.

But, if he couldn't do this alone, what would Zaug say or do? There was no resisting in his current state. No, he had to win this alone.

But could he? Without his master's or even the girl's help, Ruffiase was the weaker party.

If the troops were involved in an effective manner, he would lose. But if he could finish this fight piecemeal… Who was this ugly bear again? He ought to remember such a bestial face. AH! Yuitagb. Prideful and strong, he technically held the same rank as Ruffiase, though with less seniority.

Then, like with almost every other beastman, he just had to insult his pride. "Heh. Struggling, Yuitagb? Maybe you should call in your minions, it's not like you can win without them."

" **Rush!"**

Charging forward like the unstoppable pile of flesh that he was, Yuitagb scared Ruffiase away but ultimately failed to do anything to him. While fast, the speed afforded to him by [Rush] wasn't enough to catch the nimble Ruffiase.

"BRAAAAHHGH!"

"So noisy." Lightly dodging Yuitagb's every blow, Ruffiase waited for the right moment. It wouldn't do to actually hurt the fellow enough that he called in the troops. No, he had to kill him outright in one move. It wouldn't hurt if he still had a point on his sword, but he'd manage.

Where to aim… Since he was limited to slashes, Ruffiase couldn't really go for the heart or lungs. In that case, he needed to aim for the neck. Split the artery and spill the blood.

" **Perception."** Invoking a skill that raised his senses and battle instinct, Ruffiase rushed forward at his opponent, **"Perfect Cut,"** And ended it. In the blink of an eye, one moment where you're ten milliseconds too slow, that's how combat ends.

That was also why a good number of people played warrior classes in Yggdrasil, despite their lack-luster array of skills. That rush, that feeling, that indescribably awesome moment where you _know_ you're going to die but do your best anyway and _win_.

But Yuitagb lost. And he wasn't in some virtual reality where he could say a bad word, lose a few levels and come back. He was bleeding out. And as Ruffiase danced away from his final blows, there was just the awful darkness of death to greet him. Or was death light? Were those the souls of the men he'd killed? He didn't know anymore… He was just… so… tired.

Ruffiase smiled grimly as the struggling brute finally slunk down to his final slumber, turning now to the subordinates of the fallen warrior.

For him to live, these ones had to die.

So he killed them. One, dodge, two, block, three, four, sidestep, dodge, five, six, seven… On and on it went, the vaunted elite of the beastmen falling one after the other. Under the effects of [Strength of a Thousand Men], Ruffiase totally outclassed his opponents.

And if there was one thing Zaug had learned from games, it was that away number of level ten characters had 0 chance against someone level sixty or higher. Throw a thousand or a hundred thousand, when the difference was wide enough, it didn't matter anymore.

And so it was here. Without Yuitagb to draw Ruffiase's attention and provide openings, the others were like lost sheep in front of a lion or a bear.

But, like sheep, they ran. And while the lion tried to catch them, the lion-tamer had other thoughts.

"Leave them. They're not worth the effort."

That was the official statement, but everyone knew the truth.

Those defeated beastmen were going to spread the news: Ruffiase had betrayed the Beast King in favor of humans.

And that was good. This meant severed ties. While keeping the truth hush-hush might seem nice, if Zaug sent Ruffiase to do espionage, he'd just go back to his old life. And that wasn't what he wanted, so he didn't allow it.

Now there was no place for Ruffiase amongst the beastmen, and humans hated his kind. The only option remaining was to be what he had declared he would be: Zaug's servant.

It was a simple, cruel, and effective plan. The best kind when it came to betrayals.

But this much was to be expected. To live on, Ruffiase had chosen this result.

Beyond betraying the Beast King, he had no regrets. Other than his King, no beastman had done anything for him.

He pointed his bloodied visage in the direction of his new master, searching wordlessly for criticism or fresh orders.

Zaug nodded once, "Today is a good day. Hopefully you'll be a fun addition to our party."

 _Aish, there it is again, talking in gamey language. Nobody really says 'party', do they?_

Not waiting for a reply, and partially to cover his own embarrassment, Zaug continued, "But first, let's get you cleaned up, the smell of blood is nauseating."

Nauseating wasn't the right word… perhaps exciting was closer to it. Oh how he lo… hated that smell, how it made him eupho… sick. That was sick and he wasn't going to stand for it.

And yet, rather than face his fear, Zaug did what he was good at, he got rid of it. If blood is a problem, we'll just wash it off.

There was one thing he never wanted, and that was to get used to this. He never wanted to be so inured to death and blood that he could just ignore them. In a way, he could just treat these feeling as a way to judge whenever something bad was happening.

Whenever he felt happy and excited, something evil was going down, either in his thoughts or on the ground. And if he felt bored, all was well.

So, for the first time in his life, Zaug relished the sweet feelings of boredom. They meant that he wasn't thinking of eating those _delectable_ humans, or cruelly smashing Catala's bones for no reason, or raiding the Draconic Kingdom's castle and taking the queen.

Boredom was safe, but it never stayed. Always his mind wandered, cooking up plots to overthrow countries or spoil people's lives.

He needed some sort of hobby. Something safe that would keep him occupied while still satisfying his evil heart.

Perhaps manipulating this beastman would do. Though, one side of him muttered, it would have been better if it was a girl.

If it was a novel it would have been. Especially a novel that was like his life right now, a sort of game-is-reality type situation. What a bad joke, if this was a proper novel, his first slave would be a beautiful elf girl or cat girl or vampire girl, or even a human girl. Instead, he was stuck with a muscle-head.

 _Really, really, unfair. Where's my beastgirl!?_

"As I think to myself that I am unfortunate,

I find as I look I have a new subordinate,

And then these feelings are strengthened,

For my orientation need not be straightened,

A man of muscle is my new friend,

Where is the maiden I can defend?

How sorry a man is the one called me,

To complain about that which is free,

I wish I could change this nature of mine,

This dreadful nature that's far from benign,

Pray I do that thou shall not see,

That darker than dark, that true side of me."

Writing down his lyrics, Catala said, "If that's how you feel, you shouldn't have taken him on."

"You paid way too much attention to the first part."

"So what should I be getting out of this, that you're a depressed guy?"

"Or you could stop trying to psychoanalyze my poems and just take them as they come."

"'From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.' The God of Water passed down these words, and I have yet to find them wrong."

Zaug turned to her with a raised brow, "He's not… Forget it."

Strange that one of the so-called gods was interested in religious texts. Or maybe not, he couldn't really tell.

XXXX

The season had now fully changed, though dry brown leaves still clung to their hosts, as if yearning to still be a part of the trees that had killed them for the greater good.

Yes, there were metaphors everywhere, and seasonal ones were not the hardest to spot.

"'As the leaves fall in autumn, so do the men.' I'm surprised the empire hasn't issued its usual challenge yet."

"There's no chance they won't do so, unless they have some budding trouble that has yet to reach our ears."

"I don't see why they should."

"Jircniv is still young; perhaps he's tired of war."

"You're far too optimistic, Count Reshur."

"Ah, Marquis Raeven, have you come to scheme or socialize?"

Said noble's face twisted into a snakelike grin, "To socialize, of course."

The surrounding nobles laughed heartily at the perceived joke. It was common knowledge that Raeven never went anywhere without some plan to better his own situation.

It was also common knowledge that he'd been very successful. Through no small amount of wit and pluck, Raeven had managed to navigate between the two noble factions, Royalist and Patrician, and had secured a place as the most influential individual in the Kingdom, excluding Ranpossa III.

To nobles, royals, and commoners alike he was a man to tread carefully around, to the extent that Reshur's casual question caused his friends to frown. Raeven wasn't someone to talk to without a plan. And he certainly wasn't someone a young count who knew too much and yet so very little should talk to.

"And you, Count Reshur?"

"You know me. I'm here for the drinks and the ladies."

"On that note, how's the wife?"

Reshur swallowed a strong shot of liquor, "Not so happy to _be_ 'wife'."

Raeven smiled congenially, "Ah, you know how women are. You just have to take a strong stance and give her some time. These things don't happen overnight."

"No, I suppose not. How about you, Raeven? You have a son, right?"

"Hm? Ah, yes, I do. What is he now? Young, I think."

"Too concerned with politics to know your son's age?"

"He's his own man. The affairs of the kingdom are too pressing for me to have the time to waste on a lone boy."

"Pressing indeed. I say, the peasants are becoming atrociously 'pressing'. As if I can control when the empire attacks, sad little buggers can't even understand this much, too much filth in their brains."

"Or too many drugs."

"True enough. Disgusting vermin, just because they don't like their lot in life they ruin their own further. That's why I say it takes a man of pure blood and upbringing to rule."

"Indeed it does."

"And _that,_ " Reshur began in a hushed tone, "Is why I can't understand why everyone hates Stronoff so much. I mean, sure, he's not qualified to be made a noble or to rule a district, but his skill as a warrior is unchallenged. Let him do his job and all that."

"It takes a man of ability to see such things clearly. You have a bright future, Count Reshur."

Said man downed a couple more shots before replying, "Uh-huh. What tha? Two Raevens are standing in front of me. I say, look at that would you, there are two Marquis Raevenssss!"

 _That's why I hate these gatherings. Too much loose drink. And I dare say, loose upbringings._

"Reshur is still young. There now," Raeven patted him on the back, "Footmen, please escort Count Reshur back to his carriage."

"At once sir!"

 _Well, at least I know now that Reshur isn't at least involved with narcotics._

And never had been. These days there were fewer opportunities to get involved, thanks to the efforts of Princess Renner and the Adamantite adventurer team Blue Rose

"How was it?"

"Nothing, he's clean."

"I'll be on my way then."

Raeven nodded and moved on, striking up a conversation with one of the ladies, who were a prime source of information, and steadily weaseling his way deeper into the web of politics that played out that night.

XXX

"How's he doing?"

"As far as I can tell, that interloper recruited a beastman and now they're travelling around, the whole three of them."

"Zaug recruited a _beastman_?" Vladimov inquired once more, just to be sure.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"Watch your tone. Why did he?"

"How do I know?! I can't hear what they're saying from this far away."

"That's all you've got?"

"Uh-huh."

"Call them in."

"Like, back here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like it when members of my Scripture do incomprehensible things. Now call them in."

"Uh-huh. **Message**. Vladimov says you guys had better get back here quick."

"With the beastman," Vlad reminded.

"He says brings the beastman… Uh-huh… Uh-huh… That interloper is such a pain… Vlad's giving me the stink-eye, seeya."

"Be a good girl and watch them as they come back. I have matters to attend to."

The Astrologer face turned pouty, "Aren't I a matter to attend to?"

Vlad sighed, "You're both a person and a matter, and I just attended to the matter."

"Then what about the person?"

"She's a big girl who can take care of herself, isn't she?"

"Well when you put it that way… muu."

"I'll see you later, Lotus."

The blue-haired girl in question beamed. It wasn't often Vlad even acted like she had a name, even though he was the only one who knew it. The pure joy she felt whenever he said her name… it felt like the only happiness she had. The rest of her life was just drudgery: watching over missions and events.

With no further words, though wearing a warm expression, Vlad left the room.

And promptly kicked himself. "What am I doing? What was I thinking!? Death god help me. She isn't a person, just a tool. Just a tool Vladimov, not a person."

He cursed loudly, "No feelings for the subject huh? When was it that I started to forget this? Was it when she showed up, when she grew up, or have I always been lying to myself?"

"I am unworthy to be an Archbishop. I am unworthy to be in charge of a Scripture. Oh gods have mercy on this unworthy man and show me how to live!"

There was no answer. There was always no answer. What was he to learn from this?

No, that wasn't right. The gods answered when he called upon them with power. When he used the spells they had taught his ancestors, they answered, just as they had promised.

But was there a spell for this? Could he wave a wand before his heart and erase these emotions? Was any spell strong enough to blot out this love?

He couldn't think of any spells that would do that. Even the memory altering spells of the gods were not wholly efficient. Vague feelings still remained.

Why then did he fight it? The gods had not provided a way to end this…

Oh yes they had. The very god he was a priest for had provided a way. A simple way.

Death.

If he died, he would no longer have these feelings.

But no, Vladimov shook his head, there was no suitable replacement. For the good of the Theocracy, he could not die.

Yes, this was all for the Theocracy.

XXX

 **Teehee! *knocks head* Sorry to say this, but the chapter's actually been done for like a week. I just didn't get around to proofreading it until now.**

 **Also, Ruffiase threw me for a loop. Since when was he supposed to sweat fealty to Zaug. Blah, we'll run with it and make it interesting.**

 **I'm happy to read your reviews. No, frankly, I really love to read them. Even making up excuses to refute the flamish comments can be amusing.**

 **Your lazy author,**

 **Iamwhononofyouare**


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